Ethnic and Religious Intergenerational Mobility in Africa∗
Ethnic and Religious Intergenerational Mobility in Africa∗ Alberto Alesina Sebastian Hohmann Harvard University, CEPR and NBER London Business School Stelios Michalopoulos Elias Papaioannou Brown University, CEPR and NBER London Business School and CEPR September 27, 2018 Abstract We investigate the evolution of inequality and intergenerational mobility in educational attainment across ethnic and religious lines in Africa. Using census data covering more than 70 million people in 19 countries we document the following regularities. (1) There are large differences in intergenerational mobility both across and within countries across cultural groups. Most broadly, Christians are more mobile than Muslims who are more mobile than people following traditional religions. (2) The average country-wide education level of the group in the generation of individuals' parents is a strong predictor of group- level mobility in that more mobile groups also were previously more educated. This holds both across religions and ethnicities, within ethnicities controlling for religion and vice versa, as well as for two individuals from different groups growing up in the same region within a country. (3) Considering a range of variables, we find some evidence that mobility correlates negatively with discrimination in the political arena post indepdence, and that mobility is higher for groups that historically derived most of their subsistence from agriculture as opposed to pastoralism. Keywords: Africa, Development, Education, Inequality, Intergenerational Mobility. JEL Numbers. N00, N9, O10, O43, O55 ∗Alberto Alesina Harvard Univerity and IGIER Bocconi, Sebatian Hohmnn , London Busienss Schoiol, Stelios Michalopoulos. Brown University, Elias Papaioannou. London Business School. We thank Remi Jedwab and Adam Storeygard for sharing their data on colonial roads and railroads in Africa, Julia Cag´eand Valeria Rueda for sharing their data on protestant missions, and Nathan Nunn for sharing his data on Catholic and Protestant missions.
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