French and British Colonial Legacies in Education: Evidence from the Partition of Cameroon
利用喀麦隆一战后被英法分治、独立后统一的自然实验，分析1976年和2005年人口普查微观数据，发现英国殖民地区男性最初多受一年教育，但1950年后优势消失，而2005年数据显示1970年后出生者更可能完成高中、上大学并从事高技能职业，归因于法语教育体系的高留级率。
Cameroon was partitioned between France and the United Kingdom after WWI and then reunited after independence. I use this natural experiment to investigate colonial legacies in education, using a border discontinuity analysis of historical census microdata from 1976. I find that men born in the decades following partition had, all else equal, one more year of schooling if they were born in the British part. This positive British effect disappeared after 1950, as the French increased education expenditure, and because of favoritism in school supply towards the Francophone side after reunification. Using 2005 census microdata, I find that the British advantage resurfaced more recently: Cameroonians born after 1970 are more likely to finish high school, attend a university, and have a high-skilled occupation if they were born in the former British part. I explain this result by the legacy of high grade repetition rates in the French-speaking education system and their detrimental effect on dropout.