Topic: The Multigenerational Impacts of Educational Expansion: Evidence from Vietnam
Presenter: Dr. Dang Dinh Thang, UEH School of Economics & Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Norway)
Time: 12:00 – Thursday, Jun 24th, 2021
Online: Zoom webinar
Language: Vietnamese
Abstract: We exploit a compulsory schooling reform in Vietnam to investigate the multigenerational effects of public primary school expansion. In the directly affected generation, the expansion increases educational attainment, literacy, non-agricultural economic activity, earnings, and intergenerational educational mobility. It increases marriage rates and fertility at the extensive margin but reduces fertility at the intensive margin. The expansion increases human capital investments in the children of the directly affected generation, with increased educational expenditures, school enrollment, and health investments, and a reduction in child labor. Finally, the expansion improves the health in old age of the parents of the directly affected generation. They benefit from improved general health, but not mental health, as well as improved financial resources, access to private health insurance, and reduced alcohol consumption.
About the presenter: Thang Dang is an applied micro-economist working on policy-relevant topics in labour, education, health, and development economics. Thang’s research focuses on the intergenerational spillovers of human capital, cultural and social determinants of socio-economic inequality, and the consequences of policy reform and development programmes. He received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of York in 2021 and a master’s degree in economics from Victoria University of Wellington in 2015. Thang is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Fertility and Health (CeFH), Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI).