Demand for informal caregiving and human capital accumulation: Evidence from elderly deaths in Senegal

This paper uses original panel data from Senegal to evaluate the effect of elderly household members' deaths on the educational attainment of female children. Using a triple-difference strategy with child fixed-effects, I show that the death of a co-resident aged 60 or older is associated with 20% additional education completed over a period of 4 years by affected girls. I present evidence that changes in demand for informal caregiving among adolescent girls within the household are one of the mechanisms at play. These results highlight the central role of female teenagers in caregiving activities and suggest that policies that increase the availability of formal care for the elderly could reduce gender inequalities in education in contexts similar to Senegal.