DC Accepted Papers Paper:
Why Malala Is Right about Girls Schools: Evidence from Punjab, Pakistan
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
This paper investigates the short and long(er) term effects of improved access to schooling for rural females in a setting with significant gender disparity (Punjab, Pakistan). I use a Difference-in-Difference approach that exploits cross-cohort variation in exposure to new school construction as well as regional variation in the intensity of school construction that started in the 1960s. My results show that an additional girls primary/middle school per 1000 girls of school-going age led to an increase in primary school completion rate (5 pp) and years of schooling (0.44 years) for the affected cohorts. I also find evidence of long(er) term effects on marriage market, fertility decisions, and inter-generational human capital investments implying that benefits of improving access to education for girls extend beyond schooling.
