Marcos Delprato

Education and civic outcomes in Italy

This article attempts to identify the causal effects of education on multiple measures of civic engagement in Italy. The identification strategy is based on changes in education legislation that have exogenously affected the schooling decision. Our empirical analysis delivers two main results. First, the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates of the effects of education on some civic measures are likely to be biased. Second, the instrumental variables (IV) estimates suggest that the direction of this bias varies across measures of civic outcomes.

A multilevel analysis of late entry in Nigeria

This paper explores how factors operating at the state and community levels are associated with the prevalence of late school enrolment in Nigeria. We investigate the following three research themes. First, whether late entry varies across states and across communities and how much of this variation can be explained by the composition of communities and states. Second, whether community wealth and state wealth are stronger predictors of late entry than household wealth. Third, whether wealth has different effects on the probability of late school entry in different states and in different communities within states. Using the 2010 Nigeria Education Data Survey, and a three-level multilevel logit model, we show that a substantial proportion of the variation in late school entry is explained by community- and state-level factors. We further find that children living in specific communities in Nigeria may face a double disadvantage in terms of on-time school enrolment. In these communities, not only is there a large proportion of children entering school late, but also household wealth has strong effects on the probability that a child is sent to school on on time. These communities could be targeted for educational interventions aimed at promoting on-time school enrolment.

The Effect of Early Marriage Timing on Women's and Children's Health in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southwest Asia

BACKGROUND Age of marriage is a barrier to mothers health care around pregnancy and children health outcomes. OBJECTIVE We provide evidence on the health benefits of postponing early marriage among young wives (from age 10-14 to age 15-17) on womens health care and childrens health for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Southwest Asia (SWA). METHODS We use data for 39 countries from the Demographic and Health Surveys to estimate the effects of postponing early marriage for womens health care and childrens health outcomes and immunization using matching techniques. We also assess whether womens health empowerment and health constraints are additional barriers. FINDINGS We found that in SSA, delaying the age of marriage from age 10-14 to age 15-17 and from age 15-17 to age 18 or older leads to an increase in maternal neotetanus vaccinations of 2.4% and 3.2%, respectively; gains in the likelihood of postnatal checks are larger for delayed marriage among the youngest wives (aged 10-14). In SWA, the number of antenatal visits increases by 34% and the likelihood of having a skilled birth attendant goes up to 4.1% if young wives postpone marriage. In SSA, the probability of children receiving basic vaccinations is twice as large and their neonatal mortality reduction is nearly double if their mothers married between ages 15-17 instead of at ages 10-14. The extent of these benefits is also shaped by supply constraints and cultural factors. For instance, we found that weak bargaining power on health decisions for young wives leads to 11% fewer antenatal visits (SWA) and 13% less chance of attending postnatal checks (SSA). CONCLUSIONS Delaying age of marriage among young wives can lead to considerable gains in health care utilization and children health in SSA and SWA if supported by policies that lessen supply constraints and raise womens health empowerment.