11 - Household-level Social Capital in Cameroon and Children’s Schooling: A Gender Analysis
Corresponding Author(s) : Johannes Tabi Atemnkeng
Africa Development,
Vol. 35 No. 4 (2010): Africa Development
Abstract
This article examines household-level social capital as a determinant of children’s schooling using a cross-sectional data of the 2001 Cameroon Household Survey. Reduced form demand equations of schooling for the entire sample, male and female children are estimated separately. Results indicate that parent’s education and income strongly influence parental decisions towards a child’s schooling. However, social capital, especially in the female dimension, is more important as both male and female children are equally given the opportunity to attend school and there is no gender bias in children’s schooling outcome when parents participate in groups or associations. We recommend the building of social capital by creating associations and encouraging females to be actively involved in such associative groups.
Keywords
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)BibTeX
- Adelman, I. and Morris, C.T., 1967, Society, Politics and Economic Development: A quantitative approach, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Alderman, H. and King, E.M., 1998, Gender Differences in Parental Investment in Education, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics 9, 453–468.
- Alesina, A. and La Ferrara, E., 1999, Participation in Heterogeneous Communities, NBER Working Paper No. 7444 (December).
- Becker, G., 1993, Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education, 3rd edn, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Bourdieu, P., 1980, Le capital social, Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales
- (2–3).
- Bourdieu, P., 1986, The Forms of Capital, in Richardson, J.G. (ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, New York: Greenwood Press, pp. 241–258.
- Birger, Fredriksen, 2002, Education for All African Children by 2015: What Will It Take to Keep the Promise?, Paper prepared for the Forum on Cost and Financing of Education in Nigeria, 18–19 September.
- Coleman, J., 1988, Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital, American Journal of Sociology 94 (Supplement).
- Coleman, J.,1990, Foundations of Social Theory, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
- Dancer, D. and Rammohan, A., 2007, The Determinants of Schooling in Egypt: The Role of Gender and Rural Urban Residence, Oxford Development Studies, 2007, Vol. 35, Issue 2.
- Dee, Thomas S., 2003, Are There Civic Returns to Education?, NBER Paper No. 9588.
- Dollar, D. and Gatti, R., 1999, Gender Inequality, Income and Growth: Are Good times Good for Women?, Working Paper Series, No. 1, Washington, DC: World Bank.
- Dreze, J. and Kingdon, G.G., 2001, School Participation in Rural India, Review of Development Economics 5(1): 1–24.
- ERNWACA, 2002, Transnational view of Basic Education: Issues of Access, Quality and Community Participation in West and Central Africa, Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa (ERNWACA) (January).
- Gertler, P. and Alderman, H. (1989), Family Resources and Gender Differences in Human Capital Investments, Economic Growth Center, Yale University (mimeo).
- Gibson, J., 2001, Unobservable Family Effects and the Apparent External Benefits of Education, Economics of Education Review 20: 225–233.
- Glaeser, E.L., Laibson, D. and Sacerdote, B., 2002, The Economic Approach to Social Capital, The Economic Journal 112 (November): F437–F458.
- Glick, P. and Sahn, D.E., 2000, Schooling of Girls and Boys in a West African Country: The Effects of Parental Education, Income, and Household Structure, Economics of Education Review 19(1): 63–87.
- Grootaert, C., 1999, Social Capital, Household Welfare, and Poverty in Indonesia, Local Level Institutions Working Paper No. 6, Washington, DC: World Bank. Grootaert, C., Narayan, D., Nyhan Jones, V. and Woolcock, M., 2004, Measuring Social Capital: An Integrated Questionnaire, World Bank Working Paper No. 18.
- Halpern, D., 1999, Social Capital: The New Golden Goose, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Cambridge University (unpublished review).
- Handa, S. ,1996, The Determinants of Teenage Schooling in Jamaica: Rich vs.Poor, Females vs. Males, Journal of Development Studies 32: 554–580.
- Hanifan, L.J., 1916, The Rural School Community Centre, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 67: 130–138.
- Homans, G. ,1961, Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms, New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.
- Kingdon, G.G., 1998, Does the Labour Market Explain Lower female Schooling in India?, Journal of Development Studies 35(1), 10: 39–65.
- Knack, S., 2001, Trust, Associational life and Economic Performance, in Helliwell, J.F. (ed.), The Contribution of Human and Social Capital to Sustained Economic Growth and Well-being, International Symposium Report, Human Resources Development Canada and OECD.
- Knack, S. and Keefer, P., 1997, Does social capital have an economic pay off? A cross- country investigation, Quarterly Journal of Economics 112: 1251–1288.
- Koura, D., 2001, L’influence des facteurs familiaux, scolaires et individuels sur l’abandon scolaire des filles en milieu rural, de la région de Ségou (Mali), Thèse de Doctorat (Ph.D.), Université de Montréal, Spécialité Sciences de l’Éducation, http://www.bcltechnologies.com/allpdf/
- La Porta, R., Lopez-De-Silanes, F., Andrei, S. and Vishny, R., 1999, The quality of governments, Journal of Law and Economics (January): 222–278.
- Lloyd, C.B. and Blanc, A.K., 1996, Children’s schooling in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of Fathers, Mothers, and Others, Population and Development Review 22(2): 265–298.
- Loury, G., 1977, A Dynamic Theory of Racial Income Differences, in Wallace, P.A. and Le Mund, E. (eds), Women, Minorities, and Employment Discrimination. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
- Maluccio, J., Haddad, L. and May, J., 2002, Social Capital and Household Welfare in South Africa, 1993–98, Journal of Development Studies 36(6).
- Meier, A., 1999, Social Capital and School Achievement among Adolescents, CDE Working Paper No. 99-18, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Milligan, K., Moretti, E. and Oreopoulos, P., 2003, Does Education Improve Citizenship? Evidence from the US and the UK, NBER Working Paper No. 9584.
- Narayan, Deepa, 1999), Complementarity and Substitution: The Role of Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Formal Institution in Poverty Reduction, Washington, DC (mimeo).
- Narayan, D. and Pritchett, ??, 1999, Cents and Sociability: Household Income and Social Capital in Rural Tanzania, Economic Development and Change 47( 4).
- N’jie, Makaireh, Loum, Abdoulie and Benet, Yves, 2002, Study of Parent–Teacher Associations at Lower Basic Schools in The Gambia, Department of State for Education and Action Aid, ERNWACA, Banjul, Gambia, 75pp.
- OECD, 1998, Human Capital Investment, an International Comparison, Paris.
- Olanrewaju, O., 2003, An empirical study of the gender gap in children schooling in Nigeria, African Journal of Economic Policy 10(1).
- Putnam, R.D., 1993,. The Prosperous Community – Social Capital and Public Life, American Prospect 13: 35–42.
- Putnam, R.D., 1995a, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital, Journal of Democracy 6(1): 65–78.
- Putnam, R.D., 1995b, Tuning in, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America, Political Science and Politics XXVIII: 664–683.
- Putnam, R.D., 2000, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, New York: Simon & Schuster.
- Sangare, S. and Diarra, I., 1997, Effet de la participation communautaires sur l’accès et la qualités de l’éducation de base: Le cas du Mali, ROCARE/Mali.
- Seeley, J.R., Sim, A.R. and Loosley, E.W., 1956, Crestwood Heights: A Study of the Culture of Suburban Ife, New York: Basic Books.
- Smith, M.H., Beaulieu, L.J. and Seraphine, A., 1995, Social Capital, Place of Residence and College Attendance, Rural Sociology 60(3): 363–381.
- Tabi, A.J., 2010, Social Capital and Household Welfare in Cameroon: A Multidimensional Analysis” Revised Final Report, African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Nairobi.
- Tawah, R., 1998, Female Education in Cameroon, Bulletin No. 13 du Réseau OCISCA (Observatoire du Changement de l’innovation Sociale au Cameroun).
- Teachman, J.D., Paasch, K. and Carver, K., 1996, Social Capital and Dropping Out of School Early, Journal of Marriage and the Family 58(9): 773–784.
- UNICEF, Girls’ Education in Cameroon: 2003 Cameroon Country Highlights, www.unicef.org/girlseducation/index.html
- Woolcock, M., 2001, The Place of Social Capital in Understanding Social and Economic Outcomes, ISUMA Canadian Journal of Policy Research 2(1): 11–17.
- Woolcock, M. and Narayan, D., 2000, Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, Research and Policy, World Bank Research Observer 15(2).
- World Bank, 1998, The Initiative on Defining, Monitoring and Measuring Social Capital: Overview and Program Description, Social Capital Initiative Working Paper No. 1, Washington, DC: World Bank.
- Zhang, J. and Davies, J., 1995, Gender Bias, Investments in Children and Bequests, International Economic Review 36(3); 795–818.
References
Adelman, I. and Morris, C.T., 1967, Society, Politics and Economic Development: A quantitative approach, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Alderman, H. and King, E.M., 1998, Gender Differences in Parental Investment in Education, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics 9, 453–468.
Alesina, A. and La Ferrara, E., 1999, Participation in Heterogeneous Communities, NBER Working Paper No. 7444 (December).
Becker, G., 1993, Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education, 3rd edn, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Bourdieu, P., 1980, Le capital social, Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales
(2–3).
Bourdieu, P., 1986, The Forms of Capital, in Richardson, J.G. (ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, New York: Greenwood Press, pp. 241–258.
Birger, Fredriksen, 2002, Education for All African Children by 2015: What Will It Take to Keep the Promise?, Paper prepared for the Forum on Cost and Financing of Education in Nigeria, 18–19 September.
Coleman, J., 1988, Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital, American Journal of Sociology 94 (Supplement).
Coleman, J.,1990, Foundations of Social Theory, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
Dancer, D. and Rammohan, A., 2007, The Determinants of Schooling in Egypt: The Role of Gender and Rural Urban Residence, Oxford Development Studies, 2007, Vol. 35, Issue 2.
Dee, Thomas S., 2003, Are There Civic Returns to Education?, NBER Paper No. 9588.
Dollar, D. and Gatti, R., 1999, Gender Inequality, Income and Growth: Are Good times Good for Women?, Working Paper Series, No. 1, Washington, DC: World Bank.
Dreze, J. and Kingdon, G.G., 2001, School Participation in Rural India, Review of Development Economics 5(1): 1–24.
ERNWACA, 2002, Transnational view of Basic Education: Issues of Access, Quality and Community Participation in West and Central Africa, Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa (ERNWACA) (January).
Gertler, P. and Alderman, H. (1989), Family Resources and Gender Differences in Human Capital Investments, Economic Growth Center, Yale University (mimeo).
Gibson, J., 2001, Unobservable Family Effects and the Apparent External Benefits of Education, Economics of Education Review 20: 225–233.
Glaeser, E.L., Laibson, D. and Sacerdote, B., 2002, The Economic Approach to Social Capital, The Economic Journal 112 (November): F437–F458.
Glick, P. and Sahn, D.E., 2000, Schooling of Girls and Boys in a West African Country: The Effects of Parental Education, Income, and Household Structure, Economics of Education Review 19(1): 63–87.
Grootaert, C., 1999, Social Capital, Household Welfare, and Poverty in Indonesia, Local Level Institutions Working Paper No. 6, Washington, DC: World Bank. Grootaert, C., Narayan, D., Nyhan Jones, V. and Woolcock, M., 2004, Measuring Social Capital: An Integrated Questionnaire, World Bank Working Paper No. 18.
Halpern, D., 1999, Social Capital: The New Golden Goose, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Cambridge University (unpublished review).
Handa, S. ,1996, The Determinants of Teenage Schooling in Jamaica: Rich vs.Poor, Females vs. Males, Journal of Development Studies 32: 554–580.
Hanifan, L.J., 1916, The Rural School Community Centre, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 67: 130–138.
Homans, G. ,1961, Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms, New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.
Kingdon, G.G., 1998, Does the Labour Market Explain Lower female Schooling in India?, Journal of Development Studies 35(1), 10: 39–65.
Knack, S., 2001, Trust, Associational life and Economic Performance, in Helliwell, J.F. (ed.), The Contribution of Human and Social Capital to Sustained Economic Growth and Well-being, International Symposium Report, Human Resources Development Canada and OECD.
Knack, S. and Keefer, P., 1997, Does social capital have an economic pay off? A cross- country investigation, Quarterly Journal of Economics 112: 1251–1288.
Koura, D., 2001, L’influence des facteurs familiaux, scolaires et individuels sur l’abandon scolaire des filles en milieu rural, de la région de Ségou (Mali), Thèse de Doctorat (Ph.D.), Université de Montréal, Spécialité Sciences de l’Éducation, http://www.bcltechnologies.com/allpdf/
La Porta, R., Lopez-De-Silanes, F., Andrei, S. and Vishny, R., 1999, The quality of governments, Journal of Law and Economics (January): 222–278.
Lloyd, C.B. and Blanc, A.K., 1996, Children’s schooling in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of Fathers, Mothers, and Others, Population and Development Review 22(2): 265–298.
Loury, G., 1977, A Dynamic Theory of Racial Income Differences, in Wallace, P.A. and Le Mund, E. (eds), Women, Minorities, and Employment Discrimination. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Maluccio, J., Haddad, L. and May, J., 2002, Social Capital and Household Welfare in South Africa, 1993–98, Journal of Development Studies 36(6).
Meier, A., 1999, Social Capital and School Achievement among Adolescents, CDE Working Paper No. 99-18, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Milligan, K., Moretti, E. and Oreopoulos, P., 2003, Does Education Improve Citizenship? Evidence from the US and the UK, NBER Working Paper No. 9584.
Narayan, Deepa, 1999), Complementarity and Substitution: The Role of Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Formal Institution in Poverty Reduction, Washington, DC (mimeo).
Narayan, D. and Pritchett, ??, 1999, Cents and Sociability: Household Income and Social Capital in Rural Tanzania, Economic Development and Change 47( 4).
N’jie, Makaireh, Loum, Abdoulie and Benet, Yves, 2002, Study of Parent–Teacher Associations at Lower Basic Schools in The Gambia, Department of State for Education and Action Aid, ERNWACA, Banjul, Gambia, 75pp.
OECD, 1998, Human Capital Investment, an International Comparison, Paris.
Olanrewaju, O., 2003, An empirical study of the gender gap in children schooling in Nigeria, African Journal of Economic Policy 10(1).
Putnam, R.D., 1993,. The Prosperous Community – Social Capital and Public Life, American Prospect 13: 35–42.
Putnam, R.D., 1995a, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital, Journal of Democracy 6(1): 65–78.
Putnam, R.D., 1995b, Tuning in, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America, Political Science and Politics XXVIII: 664–683.
Putnam, R.D., 2000, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Sangare, S. and Diarra, I., 1997, Effet de la participation communautaires sur l’accès et la qualités de l’éducation de base: Le cas du Mali, ROCARE/Mali.
Seeley, J.R., Sim, A.R. and Loosley, E.W., 1956, Crestwood Heights: A Study of the Culture of Suburban Ife, New York: Basic Books.
Smith, M.H., Beaulieu, L.J. and Seraphine, A., 1995, Social Capital, Place of Residence and College Attendance, Rural Sociology 60(3): 363–381.
Tabi, A.J., 2010, Social Capital and Household Welfare in Cameroon: A Multidimensional Analysis” Revised Final Report, African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Nairobi.
Tawah, R., 1998, Female Education in Cameroon, Bulletin No. 13 du Réseau OCISCA (Observatoire du Changement de l’innovation Sociale au Cameroun).
Teachman, J.D., Paasch, K. and Carver, K., 1996, Social Capital and Dropping Out of School Early, Journal of Marriage and the Family 58(9): 773–784.
UNICEF, Girls’ Education in Cameroon: 2003 Cameroon Country Highlights, www.unicef.org/girlseducation/index.html
Woolcock, M., 2001, The Place of Social Capital in Understanding Social and Economic Outcomes, ISUMA Canadian Journal of Policy Research 2(1): 11–17.
Woolcock, M. and Narayan, D., 2000, Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, Research and Policy, World Bank Research Observer 15(2).
World Bank, 1998, The Initiative on Defining, Monitoring and Measuring Social Capital: Overview and Program Description, Social Capital Initiative Working Paper No. 1, Washington, DC: World Bank.
Zhang, J. and Davies, J., 1995, Gender Bias, Investments in Children and Bequests, International Economic Review 36(3); 795–818.