Publication: The Decision to Invest in Child Quality over Quantity : Household Size and Household Investment in Education in Vietnam
Loading...
Published
2013-06
ISSN
Date
2013-09-26
Author(s)
Rogers, F. Halsey
Editor(s)
Abstract
During Vietnam's two decades of rapid economic growth, its fertility rate has fallen sharply at the same time that its educational attainment has risen rapidly -- macro trends that are consistent with the hypothesis of a quantity-quality tradeoff in child-rearing. This paper investigates whether the micro-level evidence supports the hypothesis that Vietnamese parents are in fact making a tradeoff between quantity and quality of children. The paper presents new measures of household investment in private tutoring, together with traditional measures of household investments in education. It analyzes data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys and instruments for family size using the distance to the nearest family planning center. The estimation results show that families do indeed invest less in the education of school-age children who have larger numbers of siblings. This effect holds for several indicators of educational investment -- including general education expenditure and various measures of private tutoring investment -- and is robust to various definitions of family size and model specifications that control for community characteristics as well as the distance to the city center. Finally, the results suggest that tutoring may be a better measure of quality-oriented household investments in education than traditional measures like enrollment, which are arguably less nuanced and household-driven.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Rogers, F. Halsey; Dang, Hai-Anh. 2013. The Decision to Invest in Child Quality over Quantity : Household Size and Household Investment in Education in Vietnam. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6487. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15846 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Publication Climate and Social Sustainability in Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Contexts(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026-01-07)Climate change is widely recognized as a driver of violent conflict, but its broader social effects remain less understood. Ignoring these dimensions risks a vicious cycle where climate policies might undermine socially just adaptation. Evidence is still limited on how climate shocks influence political participation, trust, or migration. This paper helps fill that gap by examining links between climate change, conflict, and social sustainability, with a focus on inclusion, resilience, cohesion, and legitimacy. Using secondary data from 2019–24, the study applies simple correlation-based methods to test three hypotheses on the nature, severity, and composition of these associations. The analysis combines multiple climate impact measures, new conflict classifications, recent social sustainability frameworks, and controls for population and geography. The results reveal strong correlations—not causation—between climate events and contexts of fragility, conflict, and violence. Climate impacts are most pronounced in both national and subnational conflict settings. The study also finds robust links between fragility, conflict, and violence and low levels of social sustainability, reflecting its role as both a driver and consequence of conflict. Some dimensions—such as violent events and insecurity—appear weaker in areas most affected by climate shocks. Two of the hypotheses are supported, and one remains inconclusive.Publication The Macroeconomic Implications of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Options(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-29)Estimating the macroeconomic implications of climate change impacts and adaptation options is a topic of intense research. This paper presents a framework in the World Bank's macrostructural model to assess climate-related damages. This approach has been used in many Country Climate and Development Reports, a World Bank diagnostic that identifies priorities to ensure continued development in spite of climate change and climate policy objectives. The methodology captures a set of impact channels through which climate change affects the economy by (1) connecting a set of biophysical models to the macroeconomic model and (2) exploring a set of development and climate scenarios. The paper summarizes the results for five countries, highlighting the sources and magnitudes of their vulnerability --- with estimated gross domestic product losses in 2050 exceeding 10 percent of gross domestic product in some countries and scenarios, although only a small set of impact channels is included. The paper also presents estimates of the macroeconomic gains from sector-level adaptation interventions, considering their upfront costs and avoided climate impacts and finding significant net gross domestic product gains from adaptation opportunities identified in the Country Climate and Development Reports. Finally, the paper discusses the limits of current modeling approaches, and their complementarity with empirical approaches based on historical data series. The integrated modeling approach proposed in this paper can inform policymakers as they make proactive decisions on climate change adaptation and resilience.Publication Institutional Capacity for Policy Implementation: An Analytical Framework(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026-01-07)State capacity is an important prerequisite for policy implementation, yet at the country level it is difficult to measure, assess, and reform. This paper proposes a focus on institutional capacity: the ability of public institutions to implement the specific policy mandates for which they are responsible. Based on a review of existing literature, the paper defines the different dimensions that compose institutional capacity and groups them into two cross-cutting categories: organizational dimensions (personnel, financial resources, information systems, and management practices) and governance dimensions (transparency, independence, and accountability). The paper proposes measures for organizational and governance dimensions using existing data, shows intra-institutional variation of these measures within countries, and discusses how new data could be collected for better measurement of these concepts. Finally, the paper illustrates how the framework can be used to diagnose the sources of common problems related to weak policy implementation.Publication South Africa’s Fragmented Cities: The Unequal Burden of Labor Market Frictions(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026-01-08)Using high-resolution administrative, census, and satellite data, this paper shows that South African cities are characterized by spatial mismatches between where people live and where jobs are located, relative to 20 global peers. Areas within 5 kilometers of commercial centers have 9,300 fewer residents per square kilometer than expected, which is 60 percent below the global median. Poor, dense neighborhoods are most affected. In Johannesburg, a 10-percentile increase in distance from the nearest business hub corresponds to a 3.7-percentile drop in asset wealth (a proxy of household wellbeing) and 4.9-percentile drop in employment. In Cape Town, the declines are 4.0 and 3.7 percentiles, respectively. Employment is 87 percent lower in the poorest decile than the richest in Johannesburg and 61 percent lower in Cape Town. These findings suggest that South Africa’s spatial organization of people and economic activity constrains agglomeration and reinforces inequality. This methodology provides a scalable and standardized data-driven framework to analyze spatial accessibility and agglomeration frictions in complex, data-constrained urban systems.Publication Investment in Emerging and Developing Economies(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026-01-07)The world faces a pressing challenge to meet key development objectives amid slowing growth and rising macroeconomic and geopolitical risks. With the number of job seekers rising rapidly, infrastructure shortfalls continuing to be large, and climate costs mounting, the case for a significant investment push has never been stronger. Yet the capacity to respond in many emerging markets and developing economies has eroded. Since the global financial crisis, investment growth has slowed to about half its pace in the 2000s, with both public and private investment weakening. Foreign direct investment inflows—a critical source of capital, technology, and managerial know-how—have also fallen sharply and become increasingly concentrated, leaving low-income countries with only a marginal share. The risks of further retrenchment are significant, as trade tensions, policy uncertainty, and elevated debt levels continue to weigh on investment. Reigniting momentum will require ambitious domestic reforms to strengthen institutions, rebuild macro-fiscal stability, and deepen trade and investment integration—the foundations of a supportive business climate. At the same time, international cooperation is indispensable. A renewed commitment to a predictable system of cross-border trade and investment flows, combined with scaled-up financial support and sustained technical assistance, is essential to help emerging markets and developing economies—especially low-income countries and economies in fragile and conflict situations—bridge financing gaps and implement the domestic reforms needed to restore investment as an engine of growth, jobs, and development.
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Albania Public Finance Review : Part 2. Improving the Efficiency and Quality of Public Spending(Washington, DC, 2014-05)Albania's rapid growth in the decade up to the 2008 global financial crisis propelled it to middle-income status and helped to reduce poverty. The global financial crisis in 2008 slammed the brakes on Albania's largely domestic-demand-driven growth. The government has accumulated sizable arrears in payments for public works and value-added tax (VAT) refunds. In a baseline scenario of no policy reforms, Albania's public debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio is projected to reach 73.5 percent in 2015 and stay above 72 percent over the medium term. Empirical evidence confirms that high public debt depresses economic activity and significantly increases the probability of default. This report examines closely the opportunities for fiscal consolidation on both the revenue and expenditure sides. Combined effect of structural reforms will reduce Albania's public debt to GDP ratio significantly over the medium term. It can in parallel rebalance its capital spending, particularly in transport, toward maintenance to support growth. Albania needs to strengthen its institutions to reinforce financial discipline and strengthen fiscal policy. Institutional reforms are particularly needed with regard to public financial management (PFM) and introducing a fiscal rule to anchor policy over the medium term.Publication FYR Macedonia Gender Diagnostic : Gaps in Endowments, Access to Economic Opportunities and Agency(Washington, DC, 2013-01)Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia has closed several gaps in gender inequalities, particularly in education and health, but key disparities persist in access to economic opportunities and agency, particularly among certain ethnic groups. This report provides an overview of gender disparities in several outcomes related to human and physical endowments, access to economic opportunities, and agency. In addition, it offers potential explanations of these gaps and, in the process, identifies knowledge gaps to be addressed in future research. On average, FYR Macedonia has achieved gender equality in health and in education; however, gender disparities persist for certain population subgroups. However, women are more likely than men to choose general programs or social sciences as their primary field of education. Both men and women are unlikely to undertake additional training following their initial education, but each for different reasons: women are more likely than men to cite family obligations as a key factor in this decision (19 percent of women compared to 1.5 percent of men) as women devote a much larger percentage of their time to domestic activities. In addition, only a limited number of children enroll in pre-school. Female labor force participation is low, particularly among women who have received only a primary education or less. Although female-managed businesses are as productive as male-managed businesses, few women are entrepreneurs. Women's participation in collective actions is limited, and gender stereotypes remain pervasive. Looking forward, further efforts to increase women's access to economic opportunities in FYR Macedonia are needed. Policies aimed at fostering the competitiveness of the private sector for job creation is a key for addressing the high unemployment rates faced by both men and women. In the case of FYR Macedonia, policies can also increase female labor force participation by affecting the potential wages or the reservation wages of less skilled women.Publication Policy Note on Population Growth and its Implications in Timor-Leste(Washington, DC, 2008-10-09)The report offers a description of current demographics, including density, population structure, and the components of population change. It explains projection procedures and provides results, including some alternative projections. The report assesses consequences of population growth for key sectors of society such as education and employment and offers options for modifying future population trends, focusing on high fertility and the reasons behind it. A brief discussion of the health sector highlights problems of promoting family planning. Comparisons are made where appropriate with other developing countries, particularly within Southeast Asia.Publication Emerging Europe and Central Asia - Opportunities for men and women(World Bank, 2011-12-06)Europe and Central Asia have suffered a setback in economic growth because of the recent global crisis, which revealed fundamental structural weaknesses previously hidden by the prosperity before the crisis. The major weaknesses are the large savings deficits, the lagging reforms in the social sectors, and the deterioration in competitiveness. Policies can address these weaknesses by taking into account the role of the behavior of firms, public spending on health and education, the consequences of demographic pressures, particularly on pension systems, and the bottlenecks created by skilled labor force shortages. This report reviews the performance of women and men during the past decade in three spheres: human capital, labor markets, and entrepreneurship. Similar to World Development Report 2012 (World Bank 2011a), it looks at the dimensions of endowments and economic opportunities. However, it does not cover issues related to agency, that is, the ability of actors to make independent choices and exercise control over their own actions. The data are analyzed to determine whether women and men are performing well compared with each other, but also how they fare in a global context. The analysis is primarily quantitative and mines various data sets. This is strength of the report because a quantitative analysis can add value by providing some measure of the degree of differences in the outcomes observed. Yet, it is a weakness as well because the outcomes are measured, but not always explained. Consequently, more work is needed in this area, especially qualitative analysis that is followed up by targeted quantitative surveys.Publication Education Quality and Opportunities for Skills Development in Albania : An Analysis of PISA 2000-2012 Results(Washington, DC, 2012)Albanian students improved their performance on PIS A1 reading, math, and science assessments between 2000 and 2012, a period over which access to upper secondary education expanded dramatically. The improvements are equivalent to a quarter to half a year of schooling in math and science and more than one year of schooling in reading. The improvements were realized despite substantial increases in enrollment and the attendant changes in the PISA sample composition. The gross enrollment rate in upper secondary education was only about 40 percent in 2000, but increased markedly to 72 percent in 2009 and 83 percent in 2012. A spike in enrollment usually results in lower average student performance due to the inclusion of poorer and traditionally excluded students. In the context of a rapidly expanding education system, it is remarkable that Albania managed to improve its average PISA scores. It is even more notable that the improvement came from significant advancements made by low-achieving students. Albania s improved PIS A scores coincide with the launch of intensive reform efforts in its education sector. The Government of Albania initiated the education sector strategy formulation process in 2002, which resulted in the 2004 passage of the National Education Strategy (NES) and the first attempt to develop a long-term roadmap for the sector. The NES served as the catalyst for a range of reforms, including: improved teacher recruitment, compensation, and management; a revised curriculum for basic and general upper secondary education; enhanced transparency and accountability through reform of the Matura, the national student assessment; reduced price and improved textbook quality through a reformed procurement process; and provision of textbook subsidies to the poorest households. While it is beyond the scope of this report to determine a causal relationship between the range of policy reforms and improved PISA scores, this report shows that socioeconomic variables played an important role. Explanatory analyses show that the effect of education variables cannot be disentangled from the effect of socioeconomic variables. Furthermore, with economic growth averaging 4.9 percent per year from 2000-2012, a viable explanation is that the general improvement in economic conditions helped to raise the tide on all social indicators, including PISA performance.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Economy Profile of United States(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-11-01)Doing Business 2018 is the 15th in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. This economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for United States. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulation and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies; for 2018 United States ranks 6. Doing Business measures aspects of regulation affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in this year’s ranking. Data in Doing Business 2018 are current as of June 1, 2017. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where and why.Publication Vietnam(World Bank, Hanoi, 2020-05-01)Following from Vietnam’s ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in late 2018 and its effectiveness from January 2019, and the European Parliament’s recent approval of the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and its subsequent planned ratification by the National Assembly in May 2020, Vietnam has further demonstrated its determination to be a modern, competitive, open economy. As the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis has clearly shown, diversified markets and supply chains will be key in the future global context to managing the risk of disruptions in trade and in supply chains due to changing trade relationships, climate change, natural disasters, and disease outbreaks. In those regards, Vietnam is in a stronger position than most countries in the region. The benefits of globalization are increasingly being debated and questioned. However, in the case of Vietnam, the benefits have been clear in terms of high and consistent economic growth and a large reduction in poverty levels. As Vietnam moves to ratify and implement a new generation of free trade agreements (FTAs), such as the CPTPP and EVFTA, it is important to clearly demonstrate, in a transparent manner, the economic gains and distributional impacts (such as sectoral and poverty) from joining these FTAs. In the meantime, it is crucial to highlight the legal gaps that must be addressed to ensure that national laws and regulations are in compliance with Vietnam’s obligations under these FTAs. Readiness to implement this new generation of FTAs at both the national and subnational level is important to ensure that the country maximizes the full economic benefits in terms of trade and investment. This report explores the issues of globalization and the integration of Vietnam into the global economy, particularly through implementation of the EVFTA.Publication Increasing Women’s Representation in Business Leadership(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-06-09)Better gender balance in business leadership is inextricably linked with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By definition, attainment of SDG 5, gender equality, is impossible without women’s equal representation at the top. Women leaders are levers of change for all SDGs, as they prioritize social protections, health, education, climate, and inclusivity. Having more women in leadership is positively correlated with higher environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, leading to improved business performance and inclusive economic growth. Yet, enormous gender gaps in corporate leadership persist. Globally, women hold only 19.7 percent of board seats, and 6.7 percent of board chair, 5 percent of CEO, and 15.7 percent of CFO positions. Unconscious and cultural biases, lack of opportunities, and other workforce barriers can limit women’s professional aspirations and narrow leadership paths. While direct cause-and-effect links cannot always be demonstrated, World Bank Group interventions that address the root causes of gender gaps in business leadership offer strong potential for progress. This note examines World Bank Group experience and provides several strategies that other programs can consider to accelerate the pace at which women ascend to senior leadership positions.Publication Bangladesh : Development Forum Economic Update(Washington, DC, 2004-05-26)The report reviews recent economic developments, showing economic growth continues to its path, and, aided by global economic recovery, export growth remains strong. The forex market has been stable since the national currency (taka) was floated in by the end-May 2003. The fiscal stance for FY04 remains expansionary, but within prudent limits, and without straining fiscal sustainability, whereas the monetary policy stance - tightened considerably last summer to facilitate exchange rate liberalization - is becoming increasingly adaptable, in recognition of the favorable macro-financial conditions, seemingly on a prudent course. Higher growth in the 1990s also translated into sharper declines in income poverty. Notwithstanding the impressive gains thus far, the magnitude of remaining development challenges is enormous. In June 2003, the Government adopted its first ever medium-term macroeconomic framework, which underpins its poverty reduction strategy, and should contribute to high growth, and fast-paced poverty reduction. The path of the fiscal policy in the medium-term framework, is consistent with Bangladesh's reform needs, and public debt sustainability. And, despite recent deterioration, the public debt stock appears sustainable. However, Bangladesh remains vulnerable to the scheduled phase out of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) quotas from January 2005. The report estimates GDP growth rates would be needed if the stated poverty reduction objectives are to be achieved, and, analytical work suggests that higher growth is likely to come mainly from productivity increases. Regarding the agenda for human development it is indicated that with good foundations already built, Bangladesh should now move swiftly with the second generation reforms needed to further improve human development. These entail complementing increased social spending with significant improvements in the institutional framework for service delivery, as specified in the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, with increased efforts to promote decentralization.