Disability and Intrahousehold Investment Decisions in Education: Empirical Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

Investment disparity in the education of persons with disabilities may be larger on the part of parents, in part resulting from predicted lower returns to the investment due to mistaken beliefs about their capabilities, or actual lower returns due to barriers in the labor market. Using a nationally representative dataset from Bangladesh and utilizing the framework of the Engel curve, we investigate intrahousehold investment decisions in education between children with and without disabilities. The results of the hurdle model show the existence of disability bias in enrollment decisions, whereas individual-level analysis suggests that bias exists on educational expenditure after children with disabilities enroll in school. Additionally, though we observe a lower level of bargaining power among household heads on educational investments for their children with disabilities, interaction effects suggest the importance of greater income stability and maternal education status being instrumental to improving the education of persons with disabilities.