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The Relationship between Intergenerational Educational Mobility and Public Spending: Evidence from Canada
Author(s) -
Latif Ehsan
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
economic papers: a journal of applied economics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.245
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1759-3441
pISSN - 0812-0439
DOI - 10.1111/1759-3441.12177
Subject(s) - public spending , social mobility , demographic economics , daughter , educational attainment , public education , inequality , economics , robustness (evolution) , sociology , economic growth , political science , social science , law , gene , mathematical analysis , biochemistry , chemistry , mathematics , politics
Using data from the General Social Survey‐2011 (Family), this study examines intergenerational educational mobility in Canada, with a particular focus on the role of public educational spending. This study finds that children's education is significantly correlated with father's education. However, the strength of the correlation declines with an increase in provincial educational spending. In other words, public educational spending positively affects intergenerational educational mobility. To check the robustness of these results, the study compares son's and daughter's education with father's education. Furthermore, this study also compares children's education with both father's and mother's education. In all cases, the results show that the intergenerational educational elasticity declines with an increase in provincial educational spending. This result has important policy implications, particularly at a time when Canada is concerned about growing income inequality.