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Parental Education and Offspring Outcomes: Evidence from the Swedish Compulsory Schooling Reform

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  • Lundborg, Petter

    (Lund University)

  • Nilsson, Anton

    (Lund University)

  • Rooth, Dan-Olof

    (Stockholm University)

Abstract

In this paper, we exploit the Swedish compulsory schooling reform in order to estimate the causal effect of parental education on son's outcomes. We use data from the Swedish enlistment register on the entire population of males and focus on outcomes such as cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and various dimensions of health at the age of 18. We find significant and positive effects of maternal education on sons' skills and health status. Although the reform had equally strong effects on father's education as on mother's education, we find little evidence that paternal education improves son's outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Lundborg, Petter & Nilsson, Anton & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2012. "Parental Education and Offspring Outcomes: Evidence from the Swedish Compulsory Schooling Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 6570, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6570
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    Cited by:

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    2. Gobbi, Paula E., 2018. "Childcare and commitment within households," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 503-551.
    3. Dev, Pritha & Mberu, Blessing & Pongou, Roland, 2013. "Communitarianism, Oppositional Cultures, and Human Capital Contagion: Theory and Evidence from Formal versus Koranic Education," MPRA Paper 46234, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Apr 2013.
    4. Apps, Patricia & Rees, Ray, 2012. "Optimal Taxation, Child Care and Models of the Household," IZA Discussion Papers 6823, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Petter Lundborg & Martin Nordin & Dan Olof Rooth, 2018. "The intergenerational transmission of human capital: the role of skills and health," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(4), pages 1035-1065, October.
    6. Pritha Dev & Blessing U. Mberu & Roland Pongou, 2016. "Ethnic Inequality: Theory and Evidence from Formal Education in Nigeria," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(4), pages 603-660.
    7. Gerhardts, Ilka & Sunde, Uwe & Zierow, Larissa, 2016. "Denominational Schools and Returns to Education - Gender Socialization in Multigrade Classrooms?," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145762, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Yuri Andrienko & Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2015. "Gender Bias in Tax Systems Based on Household Income," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 117-118, pages 141-155.
    9. Siti Fatihah Murtaza & Wan Ying Gan & Norhasmah Sulaiman & Zalilah Mohd Shariff & Siti Irma Fadhilah Ismail, 2019. "Sociodemographic, nutritional, and environmental factors are associated with cognitive performance among Orang Asli children in Malaysia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    health; non-cognitive skills; cognitive skills; education; schooling reforms; causality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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