Measuring the economic gain of
investing in girls : the girl effect dividend

Measuring the economic gain of investing in girls : the girl effect dividend

Although girls are approximately half the youth population in developing countries, they contribute less than their potential to the economy. The objective of this paper is to quantify the opportunity cost of girls' exclusion from productive e...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Chaaban, Jad, Cunningham, Wendy
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	2012
Subjects:	ABORTION ACCESS TO HEALTH ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES ADOLESCENCE ADOLESCENT ADOLESCENT BIRTHS ADOLESCENT FERTILITY ADOLESCENT GIRL ADOLESCENT GIRLS ADOLESCENT MOTHER ADOLESCENT MOTHERS ADOLESCENT PREGNANCIES ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY ADOLESCENTS ADULT WOMEN ADULTHOOD BIRTH RATES CHILD MARRIAGE CHILD SURVIVAL CHILDBIRTH COMPLETION RATES COMPLICATIONS CULTURAL NORMS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT POLICY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DROPOUT DROPOUT RATES EARLY CHILDBEARING EARLY MARRIAGE EARLY MOTHERHOOD EARLY PREGNANCIES EARLY PREGNANCY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT ECONOMIC FACTORS ECONOMIC GAINS ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ECONOMIC OUTCOMES ECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITY EDUCATED GIRLS EDUCATION LEVELS EDUCATION OF GIRLS EDUCATION PROGRAMS EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT EDUCATIONAL CURRICULA EDUCATIONAL LEVELS EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES ENROLLMENT ENROLLMENT RATES ENROLMENT RATES FAMILY INCOME FEMALE EDUCATION FEMALE EMPLOYMENT FEMALE POPULATION FERTILITY RATE FIRST BIRTH FORMAL SCHOOLING FREQUENT ABSENTEEISM GAP BETWEEN GIRLS GENDER GENDER BASED VIOLENCE GENDER DISPARITIES GENDER EQUALITY GENDER GAP GENDER INEQUALITY GENDER UNIT GIRLS AT RISK GIRLS IN SCHOOL GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GLOBAL HEALTH GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT HEAD TEACHERS HEALTH RISKS HEALTHIER FAMILIES HIGH COSTS HIV HUMAN CAPITAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN POTENTIAL HUMAN RIGHTS INFANT INFANT MORTALITY INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION INTERNSHIPS INTERVENTIONS INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION JOB TRAINING KIDS LABOR FORCE LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKETS LABOR SUPPLY LABOUR DEMAND LABOUR ORGANIZATION LEARNING LEAVING SCHOOL LEVEL OF EDUCATION LEVELS OF EDUCATION LIFE EXPECTANCY MARITAL STATUS MARKET ECONOMY MATERNAL CAUSES MOTHER NET ENROLLMENT NEWBORNS NUMBER OF ADOLESCENT PREGNANCIES NUMBER OF BIRTHS NUMBER OF GIRLS NUMBER OF WORKERS OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE OLD GIRLS POLICY DISCUSSIONS POLICY IMPLICATIONS POLICY MAKERS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH REPORT ON GENDER POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POPULATION COUNCIL POPULATION DISTRIBUTION POPULATION INFORMATION POPULATION INFORMATION PROGRAM POPULOUS COUNTRY POVERTY REDUCTION PREGNANCY RATES PRIMARY DROPOUT RATES PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOL DROPOUTS PRIMARY SCHOOL FACILITIES PRIMARY SCHOOL-AGED GIRLS PRIVATE SCHOOLING PROGRESS PUBLIC HEALTH REGIONAL PATTERNS REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PERSPECTIVE RETURNS TO EDUCATION RISKY BEHAVIOR RISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIOR SAFETY NETS SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOL LEAVERS SCHOOLING SCHOOLS SECONDARY EDUCATION SECONDARY ENROLMENT SECONDARY LEVEL SECONDARY SCHOOL SECONDARY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SELF ESTEEM SEX SEXES SEXUAL HEALTH SEXUAL HEALTH CHOICES SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL FACTORS SOCIAL SCIENCE SPOUSES STATE OF WORLD POPULATION SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS TEACHING TEEN TEEN GIRLS TEENAGE MOTHERHOOD TEENAGE PREGNANCY TERTIARY EDUCATION TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES UNEMPLOYMENT UNICEF UNINTENDED PREGNANCY UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND WAGE DIFFERENCES WAGE GAP WORKFORCE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION YOUNG ADULTS YOUNG FEMALES YOUNG GIRLS YOUNG MEN YOUNG MOTHER YOUNG MOTHERS YOUNG PEOPLE YOUNG WOMEN YOUTH YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20110808092702 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3514

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Summary:	Although girls are approximately half the youth population in developing countries, they contribute less than their potential to the economy. The objective of this paper is to quantify the opportunity cost of girls' exclusion from productive employment with the hope that stark figures will lead policymakers to reconsider the current underinvestment in girls. The paper explores the linkages between investing in girls and potential increases in national income by examining three widely prevalent aspects of adolescent girls' lives: early school dropout, teenage pregnancy and joblessness. The countries included in the analysis are: Bangladesh, Brazil, Burundi, China, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Paraguay, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. The authors use secondary data to allow for some comparability across countries. They find that investing in girls so that they would complete the next level of education would lead to lifetime earnings of today's cohort of girls that is equivalent to up to 68 percent of annual gross domestic product. When adjusting for ability bias and labor demand elasticities, this figure falls to 54 percent, or 1.5 percent per year. Closing the inactivity rate between girls and boys would increase gross domestic product by up to 5.4 percent, but when accounting for students, male-female wage gaps and labor demand elasticities, the joblessness gap between girls and their male counterparts yields an increase in gross domestic product of up to 1.2 percent in a single year. The cost of adolescent pregnancy as a share of gross domestic could be as high as 30 percent or as low as 1 percent over a girl's lifetime, depending on the assumptions used to calculate the losses.