Modeling the Gender Gap in Children’s Educational Expenditure in Egypt: An Econometric Hurdle Model Approach

Abstract

The study used nationally representative survey data from the 2019–2020 Household Income, Expenditure, and Consumption Survey (HIECS), conducted biennially in Egypt by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). The sample consisted of 14,892 children from 6,721 Egyptian households. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the demographic, social, and economic characteristics associated with household educational expenditure.  A hurdle model was employed to analyze gender differences in educational spending, distinguishing between two stages: (1) the likelihood of incurring any educational expenditure, and (2) the level of educational expenditure on children among households with positive spending. In the first stage, female children aged 4–8 and 14–18 years were less likely to receive educational expenditure, whereas those aged 9–13 years were more likely to receive such expenditure. In the second stage, among households with positive spending, females received lower educational expenditure during early and middle childhood but higher expenditure during adolescence.