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The intergenerational effect of parental education on child health: evidence from the UK

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  • Mary A. Silles

Abstract

While many earlier studies have shown a positive correlation between parents' education and children health, little attempt has been made to address the possibility that unobserved characteristics underlie this intergenerational relationship. This paper explores the effect of additional schooling induced through compulsory schooling laws in Great Britain and Northern Ireland on child health as measured by long-term illness. Despite statistically significant ordinary least squares estimates, the instrumental variable estimates reveal little if any causal relationship between parental education and long-term illness in children. This is true for both two-parent and single-parent families.

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  • Mary A. Silles, 2015. "The intergenerational effect of parental education on child health: evidence from the UK," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 455-469, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:23:y:2015:i:4:p:455-469
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2013.858660
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    Cited by:

    1. Makate, Marshall & Makate, Clifton, 2016. "The causal effect of increased primary schooling on child mortality in Malawi: Universal primary education as a natural experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 72-83.
    2. Hamad, Rita & Elser, Holly & Tran, Duy C. & Rehkopf, David H. & Goodman, Steven N., 2018. "How and why studies disagree about the effects of education on health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies of compulsory schooling laws," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 168-178.
    3. Daniel Graeber, 2023. "Intergenerational Health Mobility in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1195, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    4. Arendt, Jacob Nielsen & Christensen, Mads Lybech & Hjorth-Trolle, Anders, 2021. "Maternal education and child health: Causal evidence from Denmark," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Graeber, Daniel, 2023. "Intergenerational Health Mobility in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 16567, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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