Essays on the economics of health and education in developing countries.

Abstract

This research investigates both the impact of investments in education on schooling outcomes and the impact of mother's education on child health outcomes in developing countries. Data from a natural experiment, which is a change in policy, and from a randomized experiment in Burkina Faso and Madagascar, respectively, are used to address identification issues. Two essays are closely linked. The first essay demonstrates how a sudden change in education policy in Burkina Faso is useful in estimating the effect of maternal education on child health. The second essay serves as a robustness check of the first essay's results and further investigates the mechanisms through which mother's education impacts child health. The third essay studies the impact of school management reforms on student performance and verifies whether there is heterogeneity in treatment effects by estimating separate effects for different types of teachers.