The Intergenerational Effects of Compulsory Schooling

Ann Stevens, Marianne Page and Philip Oreopoulos

No 34, Working Papers from University of California, Davis, Department of Economics

Abstract: The strong correlation between parents? economic status and that of their children hasbeen well-documented, but little is known about the extent to which this is a causal phenomenon.This paper attempts to improve our understanding of the causal processes that contribute tointergenerational immobility by exploiting historical changes in compulsory schooling laws thataffected the educational attainment of parents without affecting their innate abilities orendowments. We examine the influence of parental compulsory schooling on children?s gradefor-age using the 1960, 1970 and 1980 U.S. Censuses. Our estimates indicate that a one-yearincrease in the education of either parent reduces the probability that a child repeats a grade bybetween two to four percentage points. Among 15 to 16 year olds living at home, we alsoestimate that parental compulsory schooling significantly lowers the likelihood of dropping out.These findings suggest that education policies may be able to reduce part of the intergenerationaltransmission of inequality.

Keywords: Compulsory; Schooling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43
Date: 2005-07-31
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Intergenerational Effects of Compulsory Schooling (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cda:wpaper:34

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