Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of the study is to assess if a policy of female inclusive education should be complemented with a policy of female ownership of bank accounts to fight female unemployment. The study therefore examines how female ownership of bank accounts moderates the incidence of female education on female unemployment.Design/methodology/approachThe focus is on 44 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for the period 2004–2018 and the empirical evidence is based on interactive quantile regressions. The interactions are tailored such that female ownership of bank accounts influences the effect of female inclusive education on female unemployment.FindingsFrom the empirical findings it is evident that female ownership of bank accounts does not effectively moderate female education in order to reduce female unemployment unless complementary policies are considered. The complementary policies should be in view of boosting the interaction between female education and female bank account ownership in increasing employment opportunities for the female gender and by extension, reducing female unemployment. The invalidity of the moderating effect is robust to the inclusion of more elements in the conditioning information set as well as accounting for other dimensions of endogeneity such as simultaneity and the unobserved heterogeneity. Policy implications are discussed.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the extant literature by assessing how female ownership of bank accounts complements female inclusive education to reduce female unemployment.
Reference69 articles.
1. Addressing the educational crisis in Cameroon: policy syndromes, arguments, views, theory and agenda;European Xtramile Centre of African Studies,2022
2. Education enrolment rate vs employment rate: implications for sustainable human capital development in Nigeria;International Journal of Educational Development,2021
3. Transition from higher education to employment: a case study of graduates of faculty of social sciences University of Botswana;Educational Research and Review,2008
4. Does foreign aid in education promote economic growth? Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa;Journal of African Development,2014
5. How has mobile phone penetration stimulated financial development in Africa?;Journal of African Business,2013