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Breaking the Cycle: the Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital

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  • Andrew Wheeler

Abstract

This paper examines the causal effect of parental education on the cognitive and non-cognitive development of children. I find that a parent's education is a strong determinant of their child's verbal aptitude, numerical aptitude and educational aspirations. Parents who complete high school rather than just primary school will on average lift their children's cognitive performance by 24 percentiles in maths, 15 percentiles in vocabulary and 23 percentiles in reading tests. Children of these parents will also aspire to complete two more years of schooling. Somewhat surprisingly, I find that parental education has no impact on children's self-esteem or self-efficacy. These results are robust to various specifications. I estimate these effects using instrumental variables, taking a change in education policy with differential effects on North Vietnam and South Vietnam as my instrument. The instruments used are relevant and strong, and there is sound cause to believe that they are valid. To my knowledge, this is the first study to derive a causal relationship between parental education and non-cognitive development. It also contributes to a sparse and unsettled literature on the causal relationship between parental education and cognitive development.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Wheeler, 2016. "Breaking the Cycle: the Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital," CSAE Working Paper Series 2016-22, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2016-22
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    File URL: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3c602109-d890-4f63-94e6-f0dcd3b4c3e5
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cognitive Development; Non-cognitive Development; Parental Education; Instrumental Variables;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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