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2022 Klein lecture. Parental education and invention: the Finnish enigma

Author

Listed:
  • Aghion, Philippe
  • Akcigit, Ufuk
  • Hyytinen, Ari
  • Toivanen, Otto

Abstract

Why is invention strongly positively correlated with parental income not only in the United States but also in Finland, which displays low income inequality and high social mobility? Using data on 1.45 M Finnish individuals and their parents, we find the following: (i) the positive association between parental income and off-spring probability of inventing is greatly reduced when controlling for parental education; (ii) instrumenting for the parents having an MSc degree using distance to nearest university reveals a large causal effect of parental education on offspring probability of inventing; and (iii) the causal effect of parental education has been markedly weakened by the introduction in the early 1970s of a comprehensive schooling reform.

Suggested Citation

  • Aghion, Philippe & Akcigit, Ufuk & Hyytinen, Ari & Toivanen, Otto, 2023. "2022 Klein lecture. Parental education and invention: the Finnish enigma," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118708, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:118708
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    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/118708/
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    Cited by:

    1. Uditi Karna & John A. List & Andrew Simon & Haruka Uchida, 2025. "Five Facts About the First-Generation Excellence Gap," NBER Working Papers 34228, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Shwetlena Sabarwal & Sergio Venegas Marin & Marla Spivack & Diego Ambasz, 2024. "Choosing Our Future," World Bank Publications - Reports 42098, The World Bank Group.
    3. Sarah McNamara & Guido Neidhöfer & Patrick Lehnert, 2024. "Intergenerational Mobility of Education in Europe: Geographical Patterns, Cohort-Linked Measures, and the Innovation Nexus," Working Papers 664, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    4. Jarkko Harju & Toni Juuti & Tuomas Matikka, 2023. "Stairway to Heaven? Selection into Entrepreneurship, Income Mobility and Firm Performance," Working Papers 17, Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research.
    5. Ufuk Akcigit & Nathan Goldschlag, 2025. "Measuring the characteristics and employment dynamics of U.S. inventors," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 237-269, June.
    6. Jarkko Harju & Toni Juuti & Tuomas Matikka, 2025. "Selection into Entrepreneurship, Income Mobility and Firm Performance," Working Papers 41, Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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