An econometric analysis of the World Food Programme Civil Insecurity
Baseline Survey (1998) and Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey (1999) data is
undertaken to examine the role of education and literacy in explaining
household expenditure, as hypothesized in human capital theory where
education is an investment with returns in the form of income. Explanatory
variables were selected from a large set of observed variables by a systematic
procedure to avoid the bias arising from arbitrary model selection. Spousal
education and literacy are found to be significant explanatory variables in the
determination of household expenditure, exceeding even the coefficients
attached to the head of household. This suggests that educated and literate
spouses may have a significant unobserved role in household consumption
decisions and income determination in Cambodia. This finding builds on
existing international literature on the importance of maternal and girls’
education in economic development and offers a number of important policy
implications.