IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/20230066.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The impact of family background on educational attainment in Dutch birth cohorts 1966-1995

Author

Listed:
  • Tilbe Atav

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Cornelius A. Rietveld

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Hans van Kippersluis

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Abstract

We analyse the evolving impact of family background on educational attainment using administrative data on 2,417,460 individuals from 1,341,403 families born in the Netherlands between 1966 and 1995. Comparisons between parents and their children reveal intergenerational elasticities between 0.15-0.18, translating into a 1.8-2.2 month increase in the educational attainment of the child associated with a one- year increase in the educational attainment of the parent. Correlations between regular siblings explain 33 percent of the variance in educational attainment between individuals, with parental education accounting for approximately 75 percent of this share, suggesting that only around one-fourth of the variance is explained by factors that do not correlate with parental education. Strikingly, despite pervasive changes in the distribution of educational attainment over time, the share of the variance attributable to factors shared by siblings remains fairly stable at around 0.34 in the birth cohorts analysed. The intergenerational elasticity and intergenerational correlation also appear to be roughly stable across cohorts. Despite a reduction in overall education inequality, we conclude that family background has remained equally important for educational attainment in the analysed generations, although it appears to vary systematically by region of birth.

Suggested Citation

  • Tilbe Atav & Cornelius A. Rietveld & Hans van Kippersluis, 2023. "The impact of family background on educational attainment in Dutch birth cohorts 1966-1995," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 23-066/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20230066
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/23066.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maia Güell & José V. Rodríguez Mora & Christopher I. Telmer, 2015. "The Informational Content of Surnames, the Evolution of Intergenerational Mobility, and Assortative Mating," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 82(2), pages 693-735.
    2. Matthias Doepke & Giuseppe Sorrenti & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2019. "The Economics of Parenting," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 55-84, August.
    3. Francesconi, Marco & Heckman, James J., 2016. "Symposium on Child Development and Parental Investment: Introduction," IZA Discussion Papers 9977, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. M Dolores Collado & Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín & Jan Stuhler, 2023. "Estimating Intergenerational and Assortative Processes in Extended Family Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(3), pages 1195-1227.
    5. Colagrossi, Marco & d’Hombres, Béatrice & Schnepf, Sylke V, 2020. "Like (grand)parent, like child? Multigenerational mobility across the EU," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    6. Paul Bingley & Lorenzo Cappellari, 2019. "Correlation of Brothers' Earnings and Intergenerational Transmission," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 370-383, May.
    7. Hertz Tom & Jayasundera Tamara & Piraino Patrizio & Selcuk Sibel & Smith Nicole & Verashchagina Alina, 2008. "The Inheritance of Educational Inequality: International Comparisons and Fifty-Year Trends," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-48, January.
    8. Adrian Adermon & Mikael Lindahl & Mårten Palme, 2021. "Dynastic Human Capital, Inequality, and Intergenerational Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(5), pages 1523-1548, May.
    9. Bhashkar Mazumder, 2008. "Sibling similarities and economic inequality in the US," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 21(3), pages 685-701, July.
    10. Helena Holmlund & Mikael Lindahl & Erik Plug, 2011. "The Causal Effect of Parents' Schooling on Children's Schooling: A Comparison of Estimation Methods," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 615-651, September.
    11. Bingley, Paul & Cappellari, Lorenzo & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos, 2022. "Parental assortative mating and the intergenerational transmission of human capital," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Magne Mogstad & Gaute Torsvik, 2021. "Family Background, Neighborhoods and Intergenerational Mobility," NBER Working Papers 28874, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Marco Francesconi & James J. Heckman, 2016. "Child Development and Parental Investment: Introduction," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(596), pages 1-27, October.
    14. Gary Solon, 2018. "What Do We Know So Far about Multigenerational Mobility?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 340-352, July.
    15. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 257-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Magne Mogstad, 2017. "The Human Capital Approach to Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(6), pages 1862-1868.
    17. Marco Francesconi & James J. Heckman, 2016. "Child Development and Parental Investment: Introduction," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(596), pages 1-27, October.
    18. Mazumder Bhashkar, 2011. "Family and Community Influences on Health and Socioeconomic Status: Sibling Correlations Over the Life Course," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, September.
    19. Deutscher, Nathan & Mazumder, Bhashkar, 2020. "Intergenerational mobility across Australia and the stability of regional estimates," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    20. Nathan Deutscher, 2020. "Place, Peers, and the Teenage Years: Long-Run Neighborhood Effects in Australia," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 220-249, April.
    21. Björklund Anders & Lindahl Lena & Lindquist Matthew J., 2010. "What More Than Parental Income, Education and Occupation? An Exploration of What Swedish Siblings Get from Their Parents," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-40, November.
    22. 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.
    23. Becker, Gary S & Tomes, Nigel, 1979. "An Equilibrium Theory of the Distribution of Income and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1153-1189, December.
    24. Yang Hu & Yue Qian, 2023. "Gender, education expansion and intergenerational educational mobility around the world," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(4), pages 583-595, April.
    25. Robert Mare, 2011. "A Multigenerational View of Inequality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(1), pages 1-23, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Beekers, Lieke, 2024. "Sources of Regional Variation in Intergenerational Mobility : Evidence from the Netherlands," Discussion Paper 2024-015, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Björklund, Anders & Jäntti, Markus, 2012. "How important is family background for labor-economic outcomes?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 465-474.
    2. Colagrossi, Marco & d’Hombres, Béatrice & Schnepf, Sylke V, 2020. "Like (grand)parent, like child? Multigenerational mobility across the EU," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    3. Wei Zou & Ruiqi Ma, 2024. "An Extended Family Perspective on Intergenerational Human Capital Transmission in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 1101-1139, September.
    4. Gallegos, Sebastián & García, Jorge Luis, 2024. "Childcare and parenting in the production of early life skills," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    5. Markus Jäntti & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2013. "Income Mobility," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 607, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    6. Arendt, Jacob Nielsen & Christensen, Mads Lybech & Hjorth-Trolle, Anders, 2021. "Maternal education and child health: Causal evidence from Denmark," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Ahsan, Md. Nazmul & Emran, M. Shahe & Jiang, Hanchen & Han, Qingyang & Shilpi, Forhad, 2022. "Growing Up Together: Sibling Correlation, Parental Influence, and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in Developing Countries," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1123, Global Labor Organization (GLO), revised 2022.
    8. Ian Lundberg, 2020. "Does Opportunity Skip Generations? Reassessing Evidence From Sibling and Cousin Correlations," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1193-1213, August.
    9. Celhay, Pablo A. & Gallegos, Sebastian, 2023. "Educational Mobility Across Three Generations in Latin American Countries," Research Department working papers 1906, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica.
    10. Neidhöfer, Guido & Serrano, Joaquín & Gasparini, Leonardo, 2018. "Educational inequality and intergenerational mobility in Latin America: A new database," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 329-349.
    11. Adrian Adermon & Mikael Lindahl & Mårten Palme, 2021. "Dynastic Human Capital, Inequality, and Intergenerational Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(5), pages 1523-1548, May.
    12. Bingley, Paul & Cappellari, Lorenzo & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos, 2022. "Parental assortative mating and the intergenerational transmission of human capital," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    13. Kiessling, Lukas, 2021. "How do parents perceive the returns to parenting styles and neighborhoods?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    14. Wang, Yajun & Shen, Zheng & Liu, Wenhe & Liu, Yang & Tang, Bin, 2024. "Will the situation of Left-Behind children improve when their parents Return? evidence from China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    15. Eric A. Hanushek & Babs Jacobs & Guido Schwerdt & Rolf van der Velden & Stan Vermeulen & Simon Wiederhold, 2021. "Where Do STEM Graduates Stem From? The Intergenerational Transmission of Comparative Skill Advantages," CESifo Working Paper Series 9388, CESifo.
    16. Celhay, Pablo & Gallegos, Sebastian, 2024. "Schooling Mobility across Three Generations in Six Latin American Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 17072, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Sebastian Galiani & Matthew Staiger & Gustavo Torrens, 2017. "When Children Rule: Parenting in Modern Families," NBER Working Papers 23087, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Bingley, Paul & Cappellari, Lorenzo & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos, 2023. "On the Origins of Socio-Economic Inequalities: Evidence from Twin Families," IZA Discussion Papers 16520, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Julia Bredtmann & Nina Smith, 2018. "Inequalities in Educational Outcomes: How Important Is the Family?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(6), pages 1117-1144, December.
    20. Bernt Bratsberg & Simen Markussen & Oddbjørn Raaum & Knut Røed & Ole Røgeberg, 2023. "Trends in Assortative Mating and Offspring Outcomes," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(651), pages 928-950.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Relative correlations; intergenerational mobility; educational attainment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20230066. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.