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Does parents' money matter?

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  • Shea, John

Abstract

This paper asks whether parental income per se has a positive impact on children's human capital accumulation. Previous research has established that income is positively correlated across generations. This does not prove that parents' money matters, however, since income is presumably correlated with unobserved abilities transmitted across generations. This paper estimates the impact of parental income by focusing on variation due to parental factors -- union, industry, and job loss experience -- that arguably represent luck. When I examine a nationally representative sample, I find that changes in parental income due to luck have at best a negligible impact on children's human capital. On the other hand, I find that parental income does matter in a sample of low income families. These findings are potentially consistent with models in which credit market imperfections constrain low income households to make suboptimal investments in their children.

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Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Public Economics.

Volume (Year): 77 (2000)
Issue (Month): 2 (August)
Pages: 155-184

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Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:77:y:2000:i:2:p:155-184
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
  • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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