Skill Premia and Intergenerational Skill Transmission: The French Case

Bassem Ben Halima, Nathalie Chusseau and J. Hellier Hellier ()
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J. Hellier Hellier: LEMNA, University of Nantes

No 285, Working Papers from ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality

Abstract: In the case of France, we analyse the changes (i) in the skill premium linked to each level of education and (ii) in the impact of parents’ skill and income upon the educational attainment of their children. To this end, we build a theoretical model which is subsequently estimated. Our calculations firstly reveal (i) a critical decline in the skill premium of the Baccalaureate in relation to the lowest skill level, and (ii) an increase in the skill premia of higher education in relation to the Baccalaureate, which however is not large enough to avoid the decrease in all the skill premia relative to the lowest skill. Secondly, we find (i) a significant increase in the impact of the family backgrounds upon the individuals’ education from 1993 to 2003 which essentially derives from a higher impact of parental income upon the educational attainment, and (ii) an increase in the impact of public expenditure upon education. Consequently, if inequality has decreased among the employed population, the slowdown in intergenerational mobility could reverse this tendency in the longer term. This may however be offset by higher public educational expenditure.

Keywords: Family backgrounds; intergenerational mobility; return to education; skill premium (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2013-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-edu, nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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