Cultural impacts on aid allocation and gender gap investment in education: evidence from matrilineal and patrilineal societies

ABSTRACT

This study aims to analyse the impacts of culture on the aid allocation to (dis)investment in the education in terms of boys and girls school dropout probability (SDP) across different kinship systems in Guinea-Bissau. Using a multi-person choice model of culturally rooted decisions, we found that allocating aid to couples facing income shock decreases schoolboys (schoolgirls)’ SDP in patrilineal (matrilineal) kinship setting the most, suggesting that aid effects at household level depend on cultural norms existing in each society.

KEYWORDS:

• Applied economics
• international aid
• kinship traditions
• gender gap in investment in education

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• C35
• I21
• O12

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

Data will be shared upon request.