Increasing Parent Educational Expectations for Children in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Potential Role of Assets

It is commonly held in the education literature that parent expectations are an important factor in predicting children’s achievement in school. However, little research has been conducted on educational expectations of parents living in developing countries. In this study of Ugandans we examine whether parents save more when they are given access to Asset Development Accounts (ADAs) and financial training than parents receiving financial training but no ADAs, and/or parents with no ADA or financial training. We find that Ugandan parents who receive both an ADA and financial training experience an increase in mean wealth of US$77.4 over a two year period, parents who receive training only experience an increase of US$71.41, and parents who do not receive an ADA or training experience a decrease of US$73.49. Moreover, we find that as mean wealth increases parents generally have higher expectations for their child’s education.

Subsequent publication: Chowa, G. A., & Elliott, W., III. (2011). An asset approach to increasing financial and efficacy expectations among families in Uganda. Journal of Socio-Economics, 40(1), 81–87. doi:10.1016/j.socec.2010.02.008

Project: AssetsAfrica