Extending the Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition to the Independent Double Hurdle Model: With Application to Parental Spending on Education in Malawi

The study develops the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique for the independent double hurdle model. The proposed decomposition is done at the aggregate level. Using the Second Malawi Integrated Household Survey (IHS2), the paper applies the proposed decomposition to explain the rural-urban difference in parental spending on own primary school children. The results show that at least 66% of the expenditure differential is explained by differences in characteristics between rural and urban households.