This paper aims to contribute to understand the mechanisms underlying the complex exclusion process of indigenous people in Peru, by analysing the role played by aspirations in the investment in education of indigenous children. To address these issues, the paper relies on a very rich data set, the Young Lives data, and use an original instrument that allow to cast light on the causal relation between aspiration and educational outcomes. We find that aspiration failure is a channel of inequality persistence between indigenous and non-indigenous people, but that aspiration failure do not takes the form of a lack of aspiration. Indigenous children do not have internalized racial schemas about occupation or about their opportunities. However, the gap between their aspiration and their current socioeconomic status is too large, in so far as it has a disincentive effect on forward-looking behaviour.

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.IZA Discussion Paper No. 8349 July 2014 ABSTRACT Transitions in a West African Labour Market: The Role of Family NetworksThis paper sheds light on the role of family networks in the dynamics of a West African labour market, i.e. in the transitions from unemployment to employment, from wage employment to self-employment, and from self-employment to wage employment. It investigates the effects of three dimensions of the family network on these transitions: its structure, the strength of ties and the resources embedded in the network. For this purpose, we use a first-hand survey conducted in Ouagadougou on a representative sample of 2000 households. Using event history data and very detailed information on family network, we estimate proportional hazard models for discrete-time data. We find that family networks have a significant effect on the dynamics of workers in the labour market and that this effect differs depending on the type of transition and the considered dimension of the family network. The network size appears to not matter much in the labour market dynamics. Strong ties however play a stabilizing role by limiting large transitions. Their negative effect on transitions is reinforced with high level of resources embedded in the network.JEL Classification: D13, J24, L14

Young people in Africa encounter many difficulties in entering the labour market and in searching for decent and productive jobs. Research on the links between formal education and vocational training and their economic returns are especially crucial in understanding the inadequate demand for their labour. This article presents evidence based on the 1-2-3 Surveys conducted in seven West African countries; the surveys provide a consistent and comparable picture of the urban youth employment situation in these countries. The analysis also indicates that vocational education could be helpful in integrating the formal sector and that it often offers better earnings and better firm performance than general education, especially at higher levels of schooling. Overall, young workers with no formal vocational education and training face poorer working conditions, while those who have had a traditional apprenticeship in a small firm occupy an intermediate position. Finally, on-the-job training plays a crucial role in the informal sector of the West African cities.

La prégnance de réseaux de solidarités familiales est couramment invoquée dans la littérature pour expliquer pourquoi la relation observée en Afrique subsaharienne entre le nombre d’enfants et leur scolarisation ne correspond pas aux prédictions des modèles théoriques. En pouvant confier leurs enfants à la parentèle ou bénéficier d’un appui financier des membres de la famille élargie pour payer les frais de scolarité, les couples n’auraient pas à arbitrer entre la « quantité » et la « qualité » de leurs enfants. Cependant, faute de données adéquates, cette hypothèse explicative reste insuffisamment explorée sur le plan empirique. En mobilisant des données originales (Observatoire de population de Ouagadougou, Enquête rétrospective Demtrend 2012), cette étude évalue, à l’aide de modèles de régression logistique, l’effet combiné des réseaux familiaux et de la taille de la fratrie sur la scolarisation des enfants dans les quartiers périphériques de Ouagadougou. Les résultats montrent que les familles de grande taille bénéficient d’un appui plus fréquent des réseaux familiaux pour la scolarisation. De plus, les réseaux familiaux seraient en mesure de compenser l’effet négatif d’un nombre élevé d’enfants sur la scolarisation, mais seulement pour une partie de la population qui exclut les plus pauvres.