Working-Age Adult Mortality, Orphan Status, and Child Schooling in Rural Zambia

During the last decade, the Zambian government has dramatically increased expenditures on primary and secondary schooling, and enrollment rates have risen dramatically. At the same time, Zambia has faced the challenge of rising HIV prevalence and the possibility that recent gains in long-term human capital development could be eroded if households which suffer the death of a working-age (WA) adult pull their children out of school due to family labor shortages or financial constraints. This paper uses panel survey data from rural Zambia to measure the impact of WA adult mortality and morbidity on primary school attendance and school advancement, and separately tests the extent to which orphan status affects these schooling outcomes. There are five principal findings from our analysis