Locus of Control and Its Intergenerational Implications for Early Childhood Skill Formation

Warn Nuarpear Lekfuangfu, Francesca Cornaglia, Nattavudh Powdthavee and Nele Warrinnier ()
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Nele Warrinnier: CEP, London School of Economics

No 8487, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We propose a model in which parents have a subjective belief about the impact of their investment on the early skill formation of their children. This subjective belief is determined in part by locus of control (LOC), i.e., the extent to which individuals believe that their actions can influence future outcomes. Consistent with the theory, we show that maternal LOC measured at the 12th week of gestation strongly predicts early and late child cognitive and noncognitive outcomes. We also utilize the variation in maternal LOC to help improve the specification typically used in the estimation of skill production function parameters.

Keywords: locus of control; parental investment; human capital accumulation; early skill formation; ALSPAC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 J01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2014-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-neu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published - published in: Economic Journal, 2018, 128(608), 298-329

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Related works:
Journal Article: Locus of Control and its Intergenerational Implications for Early Childhood Skill Formation (2018)
Working Paper: Locus of control and its intergenerational implications forearly childhood skill formation (2017)
Working Paper: Locus of Control and Its Intergenerational Implications for Early Childhood Skill Formation (2016)
Working Paper: Locus of Control and Its Intergenerational Implications for Early Childhood Skill Formation (2014)
Working Paper: Locus of control and its intergenerational implications for early childhood skill formation (2014)
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