Do Smart Parents Raise Smart Children?: The Intergenerational Transmission of Cognitive Abilities

Silke Anger and Guido Heineck

No 156, SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research from DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

Abstract: Complementing prior research on income mobility and educational transmission, we provide evidence on the intergenerational transmission of cognitive abilities using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study. Our estimates suggest that individuals' cognitive skills are positively related to the abilities of their parents, even when educational attainment and family background is controlled for. We differentiate between mothers' and fathers' IQ transmission and find different effects on the cognition of sons and daughters. We show that cognitive skills which are based on past learning are more strongly transmitted from parents to children than cognitive skills which are related to innate abilities. Our findings are not compatible with a pure genetic model, but rather point to the importance of parental investments for the cognitive outcomes of children.

Keywords: Cognitive abilities; intergenerational IQ transmission; skill formation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 J10 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 p.
Date: 2009
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Do smart parents raise smart children? The intergenerational transmission of cognitive abilities (2010)
Journal Article: Do Smart Parents Raise Smart Children? The Intergenerational Transmission of Cognitive Abilities (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp156

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