Three essays on well-being in Africa

Abstract

This dissertation analyses the effect of diverse policies on well-being in Africa. The chapter 1 assesses the causal effects of School Feeding Program (SFP) on socio-economic outcomes in Cote d’Ivoire. Using a Difference in Difference methodology (DID), we found that the impact of this intervention is rather mixed and some educational outcomes appeared to be gender-specific. The chapter 2 examines the impact of aid development projects on child’s nutrition in West Africa. We made use of two-way fixed effects estimators with heterogeneous treatment effects methodology and found evidence that development aid projects significantly increase child’s nutrition status of those close to project locations compared to those who are far. The chapter 3 analyses the effect of new mining activities on local populations’ living conditions. To reach our objective, we utilized a Difference in Difference methodology and found that mining activities in our selected area impact positively and significantly the living condition of the local population. Based on each finding, we drew some policy implications.