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Parents, Schools and Human Capital Differences Across Countries

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  • Marta De Philippis
  • Federico Rossi

Abstract

This paper studies the contribution of parental influence in accounting for cross-country gaps in human capital achievements. We argue that the cross-country variation in unobserved parental characteristics is at least as important as the one in commonly used observable proxies of parental socioeconomic background. We infer this through an indirect empirical approach, based on the comparison of the school performance of second-generation immigrants. We document that, within the same host country or even the same school, students whose parents come from high-scoring countries in standardized international tests do better than their peers with similar socioeconomic backgrounds. This finding is not driven by differential selection into emigration. We provide several pieces of evidence that support the transmission of cultural values as a leading channel behind the cross-country variation in the parental component. Unobserved parental characteristics account for about 15% of the cross-country variance in test scores, roughly doubling the overall contribution of parental influence.

Suggested Citation

  • Marta De Philippis & Federico Rossi, 2021. "Parents, Schools and Human Capital Differences Across Countries," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(2), pages 1364-1406.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jeurec:v:19:y:2021:i:2:p:1364-1406.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeea/jvaa036
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    Cited by:

    1. Rossi,Federico, 2018. "Human Capital and Macro-Economic Development : A Review of the Evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8650, The World Bank.
    2. Xiao Ma & Alejandro Nakab & Daniela Vidart, 2024. "Human Capital Investment and Development: The Role of On-the-Job Training," Journal of Political Economy Macroeconomics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 107-148.
    3. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Perera, Liyanage Devangi H. & Xiao, Saizi, 2020. "Vietnam’s extraordinary performance in the PISA assessment: A cultural explanation of an education paradox," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 913-932.
    4. Slichter, David & Taveras, Elisa & Monge, Daniela, 2021. "The Skills of Rich and Poor Country Workers," MPRA Paper 106050, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Paolo Martellini & Todd Schoellman & Jason Sockin, 2024. "The Global Distribution of College Graduate Quality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(2), pages 434-483.
    6. Camarero Garcia, Sebastian, 2022. "Inequality of Educational Opportunities and the Role of Learning Intensity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    7. Abhijeet Singh, 2020. "Learning More with Every Year: School Year Productivity and International Learning Divergence," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1770-1813.
    8. Dang, Hai-Anh & Glewwe, Paul & Lee, Jongwook & Vu, Khoa, 2023. "What Explains Vietnam's Exceptional Performance in Education Relative to Other Countries? Analysis of the 2012, 2015, and 2018 PISA Data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    9. Bonacini, Luca & Gallo, Giovanni & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2021. "Sometimes you cannot make it on your own. How household background influences chances of success in Italy," GLO Discussion Paper Series 832, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Eric A Hanushek & Lavinia Kinneifo & Philipp Lergetporer & Ludger Woessmann, 2022. "Patience, Risk-Taking, and Human Capital Investment Across Countries," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(646), pages 2290-2307.
    11. Hoang, Trung X. & Nguyen, Ha, 2023. "Multi-generational effects of school access in a developing country: Evidence from a mass education program in Vietnam," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    12. Camarero Garcia, Sebastian, 2018. "Inequality of educational opportunities and the role of learning intensity: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 18-021, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

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    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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