Colonisation, School and Development in Africa. An empirical analysis

Denis Cogneau ()

No DT/2003/01, Working Papers from DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation)

Abstract: Macroeconomic data on 45 countries are combined with microeconomic data on 4 case-study countries to reveal significant differences in the levels of education attained under the different colonial powers in Africa during the colonial period. In 1960, former British colonies exhibited higher educational performance. These differences are robust to the control of some pre-colonial factors and have persisted over time until 1990. However, the education differential did not give rise to either income per capita or life expectancy differentials. Urbanisation occurred at a faster rate in the former French colonies. Microeconomic data for the case-study countries show indeed that private returns to education tend to be lower in the former British colonies. _________________________________ En combinant des données macro-économiques sur 45 pays et des données micro-économiques sur 4 pays comparables, nous révélons l’existence de différences entre les niveaux d’éducation atteints en Afrique selon l’identité du colonisateur. En 1960, les ex-colonies britanniques affichaient une performance éducative supérieure. Ces différences sont robustes au contrôle de certains facteurs pré-coloniaux et ont persisté dans le temps jusqu’en 1990. Cependant, le différentiel d’éducation ne s’est pas transformé en différences de revenu ou d’espérance de vie. Les ex-colonies françaises se sont urbanisées plus rapidement. Les données microéconomiques sur les pays d’étude montrent bien que les rendements privés de l’éducation tendent à être moins élevés dans les ex-colonies britanniques.

Keywords: Colonization; School; Development; Growth; Africa; Colonisation; Ecole; Développement; Croissance; Afrique. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N37 O40 P51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2003-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-dev
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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