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Do public scholarships crowd out parental transfers? Evidence at the intensive margin from France

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  • Sébastien Grobon

    (COR - Conseil d'Orientation des Retraites, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • François-Charles Wolff

    (TEPP - Théorie et évaluation des politiques publiques - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - Nantes Univ - IAE Nantes - Nantes Université - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - Nantes Université - pôle Sociétés - Nantes Univ - Nantes Université)

Abstract

This paper investigates the extent to which means-tested scholarships received by higher education students crowd out parental financial support at the intensive margin. We estimate a private transfer function using survey data completed in 2014 in France on a sample of students aged between 18 and 24 and receiving public scholarships. When introducing the amount of public transfer as exogenous covariate, we find that one additional euro of scholarship is associated with a decrease in parental transfers of 0.40-0.55 euro. When considering an instrumental variable strategy which exploits the non-linear schedule of the scholarship amount, we find a larger effect with a decrease of 0.50-0.65 euros. Our results suggest that a substantial part of student scholarship benefits low-income parents through a reduction in the money they give to their student children.

Suggested Citation

  • Sébastien Grobon & François-Charles Wolff, 2022. "Do public scholarships crowd out parental transfers? Evidence at the intensive margin from France," Post-Print halshs-03623525, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03623525
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03623525v3
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    public scholarship; students; parental transfers; crowding-out effect; altruism; bourses sur critères sociaux; transferts intergénérationnels; effet d'éviction; altruisme; étudiants; enseignement supérieur; aides publiques;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • L38 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Policy
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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