Publication: Educational, Economic Welfare and Subjective Well-Being in Afghanistan
Date
2013-07
ISSN
Published
2013-07
Author(s)
Auturupane, Harsha
Gunatilake, Ramani
Shojo, Mari
Ebenezer, Roshini
Abstract
Education is universally recognized as
one of the key determinants of socio-economic security and
welfare. The link between education and increased individual
earnings has been widely documented: there is a large body
of cross-country evidence that education enhances the
employability, productivity and income earning capacity of
individuals. The impact of educational attainment on these
various socio-economic indicators has been shown to vary by
region, sub-region, gender, age, by income levels, and other
variables. In this paper, we focus on the socio-economic
impact of educational attainment in Afghanistan. Afghanistan
presents a fairly unique context for examining the
association between education and the socio-economic
variable discussed above. It is a conflict-affected country,
with strong and rich cultural and religious traditions. It
also has some of the worst developmental indicators and in
the world. Using data from the National Risk and
Vulnerability Assessment (NRVA) survey of 2007/08, authors
investigate the extent to which the educational attainment
of men and women is associated with greater economic welfare
and less likelihood of being poor. The analysis is divided
into four parts: part one looks education and other factors
associated with household economic welfare and the
probability of being poor; part two focuses on the education
and other factors associated with women's participation
in the labor force; part three looks at the association of
mother's education with health-related outcomes of
children; and part four looks at the association between
educational attainment of girls and women, and their
perceptions of well-being. Afghanistan's education
indicators are among the worst in the world and girls and
rural communities are particularly disadvantaged.
Citation
“Auturupane, Harsha; Gunatilake, Ramani; Shojo, Mari; Ebenezer, Roshini. 2013. Educational, Economic Welfare and Subjective Well-Being in Afghanistan. South Asia Human Development Sector Discussion Paper;No. 63. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16284 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”