Papers by Jean-Luc Demonsant
This thesis aiming at studying intergenerational solidarities is based on a survey I conducted in... more This thesis aiming at studying intergenerational solidarities is based on a survey I conducted in six Haalpulaar villages around Matam, Senegal. Remittances sent by migrant children to their parents in the village provide a valuable support. In the first chapter I present the sociopolitical context of the area. It appears that belonging to a caste (noble/artisan/slave) still determines the social position of an individual in the village. In chapter 2, I suggest that the family prestige represents an old-age security. As a result, while belonging to a prestigious family lowers the probability of migrating, it raises the probability of frequently remitting to the patriarch. Chapter 3 focuses on the schooling of the children who remained in the village. The patriarch’s migration experience raises the probability of attending school, while the children from noble families have a lower probability of being sent to school.Cette thèse visant à analyser les solidarités intergénérationnelles...
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Université Paris Descartes, Jun 17, 2021
MPRA Paper, 2013
This paper studies the substitution between secular formal education and informal religious educa... more This paper studies the substitution between secular formal education and informal religious education for Senegalese households. We use the timing of the opening of formal schools to estimate whether Koranic and formal education systems compete for the children's time. Adapting the diff-in-diff strategy in Duflo (2001), we assess the effect of school openings on Koranic and formal schooling. Our estimates show that formal school openings increase formal education attainment, especially in rural areas. We then estimate that an additional formal school decreases the time spent in Koranic schools for boys. In rural areas, it decreases the likelihood of pursuing long Koranic schooling by 20 percentage points (p.p.). In urban areas, it decreases the probability to go to Koranic school by 5 p.p. This proves that, while both school systems are independent in terms of organization and pedagogical content, they still compete for the children's time. This might increase the opportunity cost of formal primary school, and can narrow the political consensus around universal primary education.
International Mobility to the United States. Under preparation.
In Sahelian countries, non-religious public education systems prevent the inclusion of religious ... more In Sahelian countries, non-religious public education systems prevent the inclusion of religious teaching in public schools, which is relegated to the informal sector. This article is a first attempt to quantitatively study how this dual educational system works and whether the potential competition between both systems is a key factor for low primary school enrollment in Senegal. The analysis is based on a unique national dataset with detailed information on formal and Koranic schooling of 5 to 21 year-old children covering 1800 households. In our sample, over half of the girls and 60% of the boys attend Koranic school, but the majority only for 2 or 3 years. After giving a brief background on Islam and Koranic schools in Senegal, to better grasp the complexity of the subject, we study the determinants of Koranic schooling before analyzing its compatibility with formal schooling. A descriptive analysis shows that children who attended for a few years Koranic school have a higher probability of attending formal primary school than those who haven"t been to Koranic school at all and those who attended higher Koranic studies. However, this apparent complementarity vanishes and even in some cases turns into significant substitutability after duly instrumenting formal school attendance with school openings. This tends to prove that the coordination between the acquisition of formal human capital and religious knowledge is one of the challenges faced by Senegal in achieving Millennium Development Goals.
Comment les étudiant·es ont-ils et elles vécu le confinement ?
Personne ne bouge, 2021
Le plus compliqué à gérer pour moi est l’isolement associé au confinement, et à l’inconfort de me... more Le plus compliqué à gérer pour moi est l’isolement associé au confinement, et à l’inconfort de mes conditions de vie. En tant qu’étudiante, je vis dans un 9 m2, qui consiste donc en mon espace de vie ET mon espace de travail. Cela rend particulièrement difficile le fait de se concentrer sur mon travail, en particulier sur la rédaction de mon mémoire. Je me sens également isolée, voire déprimée, du fait de l’absence de contacts en face à face avec mes proches, notamment ceux qui résident à l’é..
Return Migration, Skill Transfers, and Entrepreneurship in Mexico: Implications for Local Development
Skills of the "Unskilled": Reconceptualizing the Relationship between Human Capital and the Economic Mobility of Migrants
Je me souviendrai toujours quand, dans les premières semaines suivant mon inscription en thèse, J... more Je me souviendrai toujours quand, dans les premières semaines suivant mon inscription en thèse, Jean-Paul Azam m'a convoqué afin de me proposer de faire une enquête de terrain dans la moyenne vallée du fleuve Sénégal. Cela a été le début d'une grande aventure humaine qui m'a permis de découvrir une autre culture et de nouer des amitiés sincères. Il faut dire qu'à ce moment-là c'était encore du jamais vu à la MPSE : allez collecter soi-même les données, mais pourquoi donc ? Heureusement mon directeur de thèse partage la même vision que moi : comment prendre conscience de la complexité de la réalité en travaillant depuis son bureau sur les problématiques de l'économie du développement ? Je voudrai donc tout naturellement remercier Jean-Paul Azam d'avoir accepté de diriger cette thèse, pour sa confiance et son soutien indéfectibles, ainsi que son apport financier pour la réalisation de l'enquête. Je remercie vivement Flore Gubert et François-Charles Wolff d'avoir accepté d'être les rapporteurs ainsi que Stephane Straub de présider le jury. La réalisation de cette thèse a nécessité plusieurs séjours prolongés au Sénégal. Je tiens à remercier le ministère de l'Education Nationale qui m'a octroyé une bourse « Aires Culturelles » lors de mon premier séjour exploratoire. J'ai également pu bénéficier d'une bourse Lavoisier du ministère des Affaires Etrangères qui a finance mon séjour d'un an basé à Saint-Louis. Les conditions dans la vallée du fleuve Sénégal sont difficiles : surtout l'état des routes combiné à la chaleur… A Saint-Louis, j'ai bénéficié d'un havre de paix grâce au professeur Adama Diaw qui m'a permis d'avoir un bureau dans les locaux de l'université ce qui m'a procuré calme, fraîcheur et connexion au monde via internet. Je voudrais le remercier pour son hospitalité ainsi que toute l'équipe du département de sciences économiques de l'université Gaston Berger.
Skills of the “Unskilled”: Work and Mobility among Mexican Migrants By Jacqueline Hagan, Ruben Hernandez-Leon, and Jean-Luc Demonsant University of California Press. 2015. 320 pp. $29.95 paperback
Social Forces, 2016
Old-Age Security in Rural Senegal: The symbolic Baraka motive
Impact of the Patriarch’s Migration Experience and Social Status on Schooling Choices in Matam, Senegal
If the impact of emigration on schooling choices of those left behind is still unclear in the emp... more If the impact of emigration on schooling choices of those left behind is still unclear in the empirical literature, this paper shows that in a stratified society it could well depend on the social status of the family. First-hand data were collected in 2004 among Haalpulaar villages in Matam region (Northern Senegal) where social mobility is limited due to the prevailing “caste system” and barely 50% of 7-17 year-old children do not attend school. Econometric results show that migration experience of the household head raises ...
This paper investigates the connection between grade repetition and school outcomes. It uses the ... more This paper investigates the connection between grade repetition and school outcomes. It uses the fact that pupils need to meet class-specific standards to pass to the next grade. It measures the differences in the link between learning achievement and grade repetition between classes with different requirements to pass to the next grade. This double difference identifies the effect of grade repetition. The results show a negative effect of the grade repetition decision on the probability to be enrolled at school the next year, and on ...
Un Système Informel de Retraite Basé sur le Prestige des Notables au Village: Etude de cas à Matam (Sénégal)
Les relations Intergénérationnelles en Afrique: Approche Plurielle, 2008
Dans tous les pays où la majorité de la population travaille soit dans le secteur informel soit d... more Dans tous les pays où la majorité de la population travaille soit dans le secteur informel soit dans le secteur agricole traditionnel, le système de retraite, quand il existe et fonctionne, ne concerne en tout cas pas les plus défavorisés. Le soutien aux personnes âgées repose alors en partie, voire intégralement, sur la solidarité familiale et/ou communautaire. C'est le cas dans la Vallée du fleuve Sénégal, où une part importante des jeunes a émigré. Pourtant les personnes âgées n'ont été que très récemment introduites dans le groupe des ...
This paper aims at studying the self-enforcing family contract between a migrant son and his agei... more This paper aims at studying the self-enforcing family contract between a migrant son and his ageing father who remained in the village and expects to receive support. In 2004, a household survey conducted in the Senegal River Valley was especially designed to account for the complex socio-political structure of the local institutions. The empirical results suggest that the social rank
In Sahelian countries, non-religious public education systems prevent the inclusion of religious ... more In Sahelian countries, non-religious public education systems prevent the inclusion of religious teaching in public schools, which is relegated to the informal sector. This article is a first attempt to quantitatively study how this dual educational system works and whether the potential competition between both systems is a key factor for low primary school enrollment in Senegal. The analysis is
Substitution between Formal and Qur'anic Schools in Senegal
A real barrier to formal education?
State education systems in Sahelian countries do not teach religious education, which is provided... more State education systems in Sahelian countries do not teach religious education, which is provided by the informal sector. This article is a first attempt to quantitatively study how this dual educational system works and whether the potential competition between both systems is a key factor behind low primary school enrolment in Senegal. The analysis is based on a unique national dataset covering 1,800 households, with detailed information on formal and Koranic schooling of 5 to 21 year-old children. In our sample, over half of the girls and 60% of the boys attend a Koranic school for at least one year, although most of them stay for only two to three years. We present a brief background on Islam and Koranic schools in Senegal to provide a better understanding of the complexity of the subject. We then examine the determinants of Koranic schooling before going on to analyze its compatibility with formal schooling. A descriptive analysis shows that children who attend Koranic school f...
Un système informel de retraite chez les Haalpulaaren de Matam, Sénégal
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Papers by Jean-Luc Demonsant