Ethiopian parents try to level out the life chances of least-advantaged children affected by early life shocks such as famine and low rainfall levels by investing more in their education. The research, published in the Journal of Population Economics, examines how parents respond to differing abilities of primary school-age children in the same family. However, in the end, the greater investment is relatively small in magnitude, and unable to compensate for the low-ability outcomes later in childhood. The research focuses on children who suffered a 'shock' to their early life investments due to low rainfall levels in their community before the age of 24 months. This is despite the fact that the study sample comes from the Young Lives cohort survey of poor Ethiopian children.

Source: Ethiopian News October 07, 2019 14:26 UTC