The Long-run Impact of Orphanhood

Beegle, Kathleen ; De Weerdt, Joachim ; Dercon, Stefan

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCOUNT;    ADOLESCENTS;    ADULT LIFE;    ADULT MORTALITY;    AFFECTED CHILDREN;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4353
RP-ID  :  WPS4353

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper presents unique evidence thatorphanhood matters in the long run for health and educationoutcomes, in a region of Northwestern Tanzania. The paperstudies a sample of 718 non-orphaned children surveyed in1991-94, who were traced and re-interviewed as adults in2004. A large proportion, 19 percent, lost one or moreparents before the age of 15 in this period, allowing theauthors to assess the permanent health and education impactsof orphanhood. The analysis controls for a wide range ofchild and adult characteristics before orphanhood, as wellas community fixed effects. The findings show that maternalorphanhood has a permanent adverse impact of 2 cm of finalheight attainment and one year of educational attainment.Expressing welfare in terms of consumption expenditure, theresult is a gap of 8.5 percent compared with similarchildren whose mother survived till at least their 15th birthday.