Can Policy Change Culture? Government Pension Plans and Traditional Kinship Practices

American Economic Review Vol/Iss. 111(6) American Economic Association Nashville Published In Pages: 1880-1917
By Bau, Natalie

Hypothesis

Education rates will be higher for daughters relative to sons in matrilocal societies, and will be higher for sons relative to daughters in patrilocal societies.

Note

Patrilocal societies were grouped with neolocal societies as patrilocal-neolocal equilibria societies. Ghanaian results significant only with certain controls. In Indonesia, females from matrilocal households are 1.2-2% more likely to be enrolled in school relative to their brothers in comparison to females from non-matrilocal households. In Ghana, males from patrilocal households are 0.6-1.1% more likely to be enrolled in school relative to their sisters in comparison to males from non-patrilocal households.

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
RegressionMostly supportedIndonesia: p<0.05; Ghana: p<0.05-p>0.1UNKNOWNUNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Marital ResidenceIndependentResidence
SexIndependentComposition Of Population
Educational EnrollmentDependentEducation