Following in Your Parents' Footsteps? Empirical Analysis of Matched Parent-Offspring Test Scores

Sarah Brown (), Steven McIntosh and Karl Taylor

No 3986, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper, we explore whether an intergenerational relationship exists between the reading and mathematics test scores, taken at age 7, of a cohort of individuals born in 1958 and the equivalent test scores of their offspring measured in 1991. Our results suggest that how the parent performs in reading and mathematics during their childhood is positively related to the corresponding test scores of their offspring as measured at a similar age. The results further suggest that the effect of upbringing is mainly responsible for the inter-generational relationship in literacy, while genetic effects seem more relevant with respect to numeracy.

Keywords: human capital; intergenerational transfers; literacy; numeracy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2009-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published - published in: Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2010, 73 (1), 40-58

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Related works:
Journal Article: Following in Your Parents’ Footsteps? Empirical Analysis of Matched Parent–Offspring Test Scores (2011)
Working Paper: Following in your parents' footsteps? Empirical Analysis of Matched Parent-Offspring Test Scores (2007)
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