The Role of Education on Poverty Reduction in Senegal

This study investigates the dynamics of poverty by looking at the relationship between education levels and poverty movements. The empirical setting is Senegal. The study is based on the idea that the reduction of poverty implies that there is probably a change in the composition of poor people: while many households’ heads get out of poverty some other get into poverty or remain in the same status. Using the Senegalese Households Surveys and based on a pseudopanel analysis, we examine the impact of education on the patterns of poverty exits. The results show that the higher the education levels, the higher is the probability to be out of poverty. The results are supported when using different poverty lines (plus and minus 10% of the official lines), different concepts of poverty (extreme and moderate poverty) and different samples (female vs. male).