Parental socioeconomic status and children’s cognitive ability in China
Hui Xu,
Zheyuan Zhang and
Zhong Zhao
Journal of Asian Economics, 2023, vol. 84, issue C
Abstract:
It is widely recognized that intergenerational transmission is one of the primary causes of persistent social inequality. Using nationally representative data, the China Family Panel Studies, this paper is one of the first to comprehensively investigate parental SES and children’s cognitive outcomes in China and moves beyond existing work by accounting for the direct intergenerational transmission of cognitive ability and by examining various novel mechanisms. Our results show that parents’ education rather than income is positively associated with their children’s cognitive abilities. The analysis of mechanisms shows that educational disparity widens the gap in parental investment, as well as parental beliefs regarding education and expectations for their children. Nevertheless, we do not find differences in parenting productivity. In addition, we find that the impact is more prominent in rural areas where education resources are much more limited. Various tests have been performed to prove the robustness of our findings.
Keywords: Socioeconomic status; Cognitive ability; Parental investment; Parenting productivity; Beliefs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:asieco:v:84:y:2023:i:c:s104900782200135x
DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2022.101579
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