Open AccessWhy the Apple Doesn't Fall Far: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital
Author(s) -
Sandra E. Black,
Paul J. Devereux,
Kjell G. Salvanes
Publication year - 2003
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.3386/w10066
Subject(s) - human capital , transmission (telecommunications) , capital (architecture) , economics , computer science , telecommunications , art , visual arts , economic growth
Parents with higher education levels have children with higher education levels.However, is this because parental education actually changes the outcomes of children,suggesting an important spillover of education policies, or is it merely that more ableindividuals who have higher education also have more able children? This paperproposes to answer this question by using a unique dataset from Norway. Using thereform of the education system that was implemented in different municipalities atdifferent times in the 1960s as an instrument for parental education, we find littleevidence of a causal relationship between parents’ education and children’s education,despite significant OLS relationships. We find 2SLS estimates that are consistently lowerthan the OLS estimates with the only statistically significant effect being a positiverelationship between mother's education and son's education. These findings suggest thatthe high correlations between parents’ and children’s education are due primarily to selection and not causation