Mothers and students’mobility

Agnese Sechi, Skerdilajda Zanaj () and Gabriele Lombardi
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Skerdilajda Zanaj: DEM, Université du Luxembourg, L
Gabriele Lombardi: University of Florence, IT

DEM Discussion Paper Series from Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg

Abstract: This paper examines how female leadership in the household influences offspring’s key life decisions, with a particular focus on student mobility. Using Italian data from 2014 to 2020, we perform both individual-level and regional gravity analyses. The individual-level analysis focuses on the decision to study in another region, while the gravity analysis explores bilateral student flows between pairs of Italian regions. Female headship is used as a proxy for the mother’s bargaining power within the household, with headship assigned to the parent with the highest income. Our findings reveal that when mothers hold greater decision-making power as heads of the household, students are less likely to move away for higher education. This ‘mother-hen’ effect applies to both sons and daughters and appears to be driven by strong family ties, rather than traditional gender roles, risk aversion, or parental preferences regarding their children’s independence.

Keywords: female headship; student mobility, university education, family ties. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 J12 J13 J16 R2 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:luc:wpaper:24-08

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