Sibling Gender, Inheritance Customs and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies

Revise & Resubmit at Journal of Human Resources

Using data from 27 sub-Saharan African countries, I identify the causal effect of sibling gender on education and how it varies according to inheritance customs. Boys who inherit their father's property experience no effect of sibling gender, while boys who do not inherit experience a significant negative effect of having a brother. Having a brother has a small negative effect on the education of girls, regardless of inheritance customs. The effect of sibling gender converges after the introduction of laws guaranteeing that children inherit from their parents, suggesting that parents substitute between transferring inheritance and investing in their children’s education. 

Working Paper

(email me for latest version)

Coverage: Broadstreet, GEEZ, LUSEM Spotlight, Center for Global Development

New Evidence on the Importance of Instruction Time for Student Achievement on International Assessments

with Jan Bietenbeck

Journal of Applied Econometrics (link)

We re-examine the importance of instruction time for student achievement on international assessments. We successfully replicate the positive effect of weekly instruction time in the seminal paper by Lavy (Economic Journal, 125, F397-F424) in a narrow sense. Extending the analysis to other international assessments, we find effects that are consistently smaller in magnitude. We provide evidence that this discrepancy might be partly due to a different way of measuring instruction time in the data used in the original paper. Our results suggest that differences in instruction time are less important than previously thought for explaining international gaps in student achievement.

The effects of more informative grading on student outcomes

with Jonas Lundstedt

Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (link)

More granular grading scales provide a more accurate assessment of achievement and thus provide students with more informative feedback on their performance. Using Swedish administrative data and exploiting a natural experiment, we identify the effects of moving from a system with three passing grades to one with five passing grades. Students receiving more informative grades are less likely to graduate from high school, from academic high school tracks, and from STEM and art high school tracks. Affected students are also less likely to enrol in STEM courses at university. The evidence suggests discouragement as a likely mechanism, with students revising their self-belief downward when receiving more informative feedback.

Coverage: Läraren (in Swedish), LUSEM Spotlight

The intergenerational persistence of intimate partner violence

This study examines the intergenerational persistence of intimate partner violence (IPV). Using Demographic and Health Survey data from 54 countries, I quantify the association between mothers and daughters in experiencing IPV. Daughters of victims are 58-88% more likely to experience emotional, physical or sexual violence perpetrated by an intimate partner. Evidence points toward mother-to-daughter and father-to-son transmission of attitudes toward IPV being a key driver of persistence. Daughters of victims marry men with more accepting attitudes to IPV, which in turn predicts incidence. Intergenerational persistence has fallen in countries that have increased gender equality and reduced acceptance of IPV.

[new draft coming soon]