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The Changing Role of Family Income and Ability in Determining Educational Achievement

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Author Info
Belley, Phillippe
Lochner, Lance

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Abstract

This paper uses data from the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth cohorts(NLSY79 and NLSY97) to estimate changes in the effects of ability and family income on educational attainment for youth in their late teens during the early 1980s and early 2000s. Cognitive ability plays an important role in determining educational outcomes for both NLSY cohorts, while family income plays little role in determining high school completion in either cohort. Most interestingly, we document a dramatic increase in the effects of family income on college attendance (particularly among the least able) from the NLSY79 to the NLSY97. Family income has also become a much more important determinant of college `quality' and hours/weeks worked during the academic year (the latter among the most able) in the NLSY97. Family income has little effect on college delay in either sample. To interpret our empirical findings on college attendance, we develop an educational choice model that incorporates both borrowing constraints and a `consumption' value of schooling – two of the most commonly invoked explanations for a positive family income - schooling relationship. Without borrowing constraints, the model cannot explain the rising effects of family income on college attendance in response to the sharply rising costs and returns to college experienced from the early 1980s to early 2000s: the incentives created by a 'consumption' value of schooling imply that income should have become less important over time (or even negatively related to attendance). Instead, the data are more broadly consistent with the hypothesis that more youth are borrowing constrained today than were in the early 1980s.

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Paper provided by UBC Department of Economics in its series CLSRN Working Papers with number clsrn_admin-2009-9.

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Length: 69 pages
Date of creation: 02 Feb 2009
Date of revision: 02 Feb 2009
Handle: RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2009-9

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Related research
Keywords: Ability; Achievement; Borrowing Constraints; College; Credit Constraints; Family Income; High School;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance
I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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    Other versions:
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  18. James J. Heckman & Lance J. Lochner & Petra E. Todd, 2005. "Earnings Functions, Rates of Return and Treatment Effects: The Mincer Equation and Beyond," IZA Discussion Papers 1700, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  19. Keane, Michael P & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 2001. "The Effect of Parental Transfers and Borrowing Constraints on Educational Attainment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1051-1103, November.
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. James J. Heckman & Lance J. Lochner & Petra E. Todd, 2008. "Earnings Functions and Rates of Return," University of Western Ontario, CIBC Human Capital and Productivity Project Working Papers 20082, University of Western Ontario, CIBC Human Capital and Productivity Project. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Meta Brown & John Karl Scholz & Ananth Seshadri, 2009. "A New Test of Borrowing Constraints for Education," NBER Working Papers 14879, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Helena Skyt Nielsen & Torben Sørensen & Christopher Taber, 2008. "Estimating the Effect of Student Aid on College Enrollment: Evidence from a Government Grant Policy Reform," Economics Working Papers 2008-14, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Joseph G. Altonji & Prashant Bharadwaj & Fabian Lange, 2008. "Changes in the Characteristics of American Youth: Implications for Adult Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 13883, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Lance J. Lochner & Alexander Monge-Naranjo, 2008. "The Nature of Credit Constraints and Human Capital," NBER Working Papers 13912, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Christoph Winter, 2007. "Accounting for the Changing Role of Family Income in Determining College Entry," Economics Working Papers ECO2007/49, European University Institute. [Downloadable!]
  7. Philip Oreopoulos & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2009. "How large are returns to schooling? Hint: Money isn't everything," NBER Working Papers 15339, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Christoph Winter, 2009. "Accounting for the changing role of family income in determining college entry," IEW - Working Papers iewwp402, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  9. Joshua Goodman, 2008. "Skills, Schools, and Credit Constraints: Evidence from Massachusetts," Discussion Papers 0809-03, Columbia University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Sorokina, Olga V., 2009. "Credit Constraints in the Demand for Education: Evidence from Survey Data," MPRA Paper 11932, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  11. Philippe Belley & Lance Lochner, 2007. "The Changing Role of Family Income and Ability in Determining Educational Achievement," NBER Working Papers 13527, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman, 2009. "The Economics and Psychology of Inequality and Human Development," NBER Working Papers 14695, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. James J. Heckman, 2008. "Schools, Skills, and Synapses," NBER Working Papers 14064, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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