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Parental Beliefs about Returns to Educational Investments: The Later the Better?

Author

Listed:
  • Teodora Boneva

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Christopher Rauh

    (University of Cambridge, INET Institute)

Abstract

In this paper, we study parental beliefs about the technology which maps parental investments into future child outcomes. We document that parents perceive late investments as more productive than early investments, and that they perceive investments in different time periods as substitutes. These beliefs contrast with findings in the empirical literature which suggest that early investments are more productive and are complementary to late investments. We show that parental beliefs about the returns to investments vary substantially across the population and that individual beliefs are predictive of actual investment decisions. Moreover, we document that parental beliefs about the productivity of investments differ significantly across socio-economic groups. Perceived returns to parental investments are positively related to household income, thereby potentially contributing to intergenerational earnings persistence.

Suggested Citation

  • Teodora Boneva & Christopher Rauh, 2015. "Parental Beliefs about Returns to Educational Investments: The Later the Better?," Working Papers 2015-019, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
  • Handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2015-019
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    parental investments; skill accumulation; human capital; Inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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