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Is it the family or the neighborhood? Evidence from sibling and neighbor correlations in youth education and health

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  • Elisabeth Bügelmayer

    (DIW Berlin)

  • Daniel D. Schnitzlein

    (DIW Berlin
    Leibniz University Hannover)

Abstract

In this paper, we present sibling and neighbor correlations in school grades and cognitive skills, as well as indicators of physical and mental health, for a sample of German adolescents. In a first step, we estimate sibling correlations and find a substantial influence of shared family and community background on all outcomes. To further disentangle the influence of family background and neighborhood, we estimate neighbor correlations. Our results show that for all outcomes, the estimated neighbor correlations are clearly lower than the estimated sibling correlations. However, especially for cognitive skills and mental health, neighbor correlations are still substantial in relation to sibling correlations. Thus, compared to existing results from other countries, the influence of the neighborhood on these outcomes is not negligible in Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisabeth Bügelmayer & Daniel D. Schnitzlein, 2018. "Is it the family or the neighborhood? Evidence from sibling and neighbor correlations in youth education and health," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(3), pages 369-388, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jecinq:v:16:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10888-017-9364-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10888-017-9364-8
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    2. Silke Anger & Daniel D. Schnitzlein, 2017. "Cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and family background: evidence from sibling correlations," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 591-620, April.
    3. Nathan Deutscher & Bhashkar Mazumder, 2023. "Measuring Intergenerational Income Mobility: A Synthesis of Approaches," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(3), pages 988-1036, September.
    4. Bühler, Jonas & Schaltegger, Christoph A. & Häner, Melanie, 2024. "Social Persistence and its drivers - An Analysis of Sibling Correlation in Switzerland," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302378, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Carsten Andersen, 2019. "Intergenerational Health Mobility: Evidence from Danish Registers," Economics Working Papers 2019-04, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    6. Colagrossi, Marco & Deiana, Claudio & Geraci, Andrea & Giua, Ludovica & Mazzarella, Gianluca, 2024. "Sibling Correlations and Intergenerational Mobility across Immigrant Groups," JRC Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2024-04, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    7. Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Schnabel, Isabel & Truger, Achim & Wieland, Volker, 2019. "Den Strukturwandel meistern. Jahresgutachten 2019/20 [Dealing with Structural Change. Annual Report 2019/20]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201920, September.
    8. Carsten Andersen, 2021. "Intergenerational health mobility: Evidence from Danish registers," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 3186-3202, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Family background; Sibling correlations; Neighbor correlations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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