Final Report Summary - INTGEN (Intergenerational correlations of schooling, income and health: an investigation of the underlying mechanisms)
In the paper “The Causal Effect of Parent’s Schooling on Children’s Schooling: A Comparison of Estimation Methods,” we review the empirical literature that estimates the causal effect of parent’s schooling on child’s schooling, and conclude that estimates differ across studies. In order to learn more about why this is the case we apply three widely used identification strategies to the same Swedish data set. We conclude that intergenerational schooling associations are largely driven by selection. Parental schooling constitutes a large part of the parental nurture effect, but as a whole does not play a large role.
In a series of paper, “Long-term intergenerational persistence of human capital: an empirical analysis of four generations”, ”A test of the Becker-Tomes model of human capital transmission using microdata on four generations” and ”Intergenerational wealth mobility and the role of inheritance: Evidence from multiple generations”, we use a Swedish data set (partly compiled by members of this research team) which enables us link individual measures of lifetime earnings for three generations and data on educational attainments and wealth of four generations. We make several contributions: 1) two‐generation studies do severely under‐predict intergenerational persistence in earnings and educational attainment over three and four generations. Hence, data on more than two generations is needed to accurately estimate the long-term intergenerational persistence in human capital, 2) we fail to find empirical support for a key prediction of the Becker‐Tomes model, the central model of intergenerational transmission in economics, and 3) wealth of grandparents adds little to the intergenerational wealth association between children and parents and inheritances constitute an important part of the intergenerational wealth transmission.
In “Pre- versus Post-Birth Parental Influences in the Formation of Health: Lessons from a Large Sample of Adoptees” we analyze: To what extent is the length of our lives is determined by pre-birth factors? And to what extent is it affected by parental resources during upbringing? We study the formation of adult health and mortality using data on about 21,000 adoptees born between 1940 and 1967, and their biological and adopting parents. We find that health of the biological parents affects the health of their adopted children. Thus, we confirm that genes and conditions in utero are important intergenerational transmission channels for long-term health. However, we also find strong evidence that the educational attainment of the adopting mother has a significant impact on the mortality of her adoptive children. We conclude that family environment and resources in the post-birth years have long-term consequences for children’s health.
In “Fighting corruption in education: what works and who benefits?”, we use Romanian administrative data to investigate the efficiency and distributional consequences of a corruption-fighting initiative, that was designed to decrease corruption in relation to their high-stakes high-school leaving exam. While the policy has been effective in reducing corruption, we also, surprisingly, find that students from poor families have been adversely affected and hence that inequality in educational outcomes and in the likelihood of attending elite universities has increased. This is important as an example of a well-intended policy initiative that can have unexpected consequences, here in the form of an increase in the transmission of inequality between generations.
In a series of paper, “Long-term intergenerational persistence of human capital: an empirical analysis of four generations”, ”A test of the Becker-Tomes model of human capital transmission using microdata on four generations” and ”Intergenerational wealth mobility and the role of inheritance: Evidence from multiple generations”, we use a Swedish data set (partly compiled by members of this research team) which enables us link individual measures of lifetime earnings for three generations and data on educational attainments and wealth of four generations. We make several contributions: 1) two‐generation studies do severely under‐predict intergenerational persistence in earnings and educational attainment over three and four generations. Hence, data on more than two generations is needed to accurately estimate the long-term intergenerational persistence in human capital, 2) we fail to find empirical support for a key prediction of the Becker‐Tomes model, the central model of intergenerational transmission in economics, and 3) wealth of grandparents adds little to the intergenerational wealth association between children and parents and inheritances constitute an important part of the intergenerational wealth transmission.
In “Pre- versus Post-Birth Parental Influences in the Formation of Health: Lessons from a Large Sample of Adoptees” we analyze: To what extent is the length of our lives is determined by pre-birth factors? And to what extent is it affected by parental resources during upbringing? We study the formation of adult health and mortality using data on about 21,000 adoptees born between 1940 and 1967, and their biological and adopting parents. We find that health of the biological parents affects the health of their adopted children. Thus, we confirm that genes and conditions in utero are important intergenerational transmission channels for long-term health. However, we also find strong evidence that the educational attainment of the adopting mother has a significant impact on the mortality of her adoptive children. We conclude that family environment and resources in the post-birth years have long-term consequences for children’s health.
In “Fighting corruption in education: what works and who benefits?”, we use Romanian administrative data to investigate the efficiency and distributional consequences of a corruption-fighting initiative, that was designed to decrease corruption in relation to their high-stakes high-school leaving exam. While the policy has been effective in reducing corruption, we also, surprisingly, find that students from poor families have been adversely affected and hence that inequality in educational outcomes and in the likelihood of attending elite universities has increased. This is important as an example of a well-intended policy initiative that can have unexpected consequences, here in the form of an increase in the transmission of inequality between generations.