The Economic Ripple Effect of Parental Education and Child Labor in Malawi: Does a Mother's Education Matter for Child School Attendance?

This study investigates the economic spillover effect of parental education on school attendance and child labor in Malawi, focusing on maternal education. Using data from the World Bank and the Malawian Integrated Household Survey (IHS), the study employs the Linear Probability Model (LPM). The findings show that the average age of children is 11.42 years, with 89% attending school. Child work reduced minimally from 47–45% from 2019 to 2020 for home farm work, while casual part-time activity increased from 18–20%. The LPM estimates indicate that educational attainment of mothers increases child work with a coefficient of 0.305 (p < 0.01) implying an increase of child work by 30.5% with every additional unit of years of education of mothers. Also, paternal education reflects a coefficient of 0.301 (p < 0.01) for the joint sample and 0.308 for males to suggest that paternal education has caused increased child labor, mostly for children. Paternal education reduces child farm work (-0.026, p < 0.05) and casual work (-0.023, p < 0.01). Instrumental variable sensitivity test shows that maternal education reduces labor (coefficient of -0.015, p < 0.01) and has a minor positive effect on school attendance. The findings show that paternal education is more effective in reducing child labor and raising education. Policy implications are to increase maternal and paternal education, increase financial support, improve school infrastructure, and enforce child labor law. JEL Classifications : O12; O15