Girls' schooling choices and home production: evidence from Pakistan

The article develops and estimates a dynamic structural model of girls' school-going decisions and mother's labor market participation. It seeks to determine the causes of low school participation and to evaluate alternative public policies. The model incorporates mother's education, school availability, the productivity of the girl when engaged in household production, and the potential trade-off between mother's and daughter's housework decisions. Our findings suggest that school construction is the most cost-effective program. When using monetary incentives, our results highlight the effectiveness of conditionality, as opposed to unconditional transfers, and the existence of a trade-off between maternal employment and daughter's schooling.