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Nepotism, Incentives and the Academic Success of College Students

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  • Gevrek, Deniz

    (Texas A&M University Corpus Christi)

  • Gevrek, Z. Eylem

    (Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Porto)

Abstract

This study investigates the role of self-employed parents on their children's post-graduation plans and college success by using a unique data set from a private university in Turkey. We assembled data set by matching college students' administrative records with their responses to a survey we designed. Self-employed parents have a strong negative effect on college success even after accounting for possible ability bias, intergenerational human capital transfers and controlling for various individual characteristics. This suggests that the changing importance of self-employment can alter the amount and mix of human capital flows. The children of self-employed parents are also more likely to have entrepreneurial intent, and are less likely to plan to attend graduate school.

Suggested Citation

  • Gevrek, Deniz & Gevrek, Z. Eylem, 2008. "Nepotism, Incentives and the Academic Success of College Students," IZA Discussion Papers 3711, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3711
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    Cited by:

    1. Nzinga Broussard & Ralph Chami & Gregory Hess, 2015. "(Why) Do self-employed parents have more children?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 297-321, June.
    2. Jolita Vveinhardt & Włodzimierz Sroka, 2020. "Nepotism and Favouritism in Polish and Lithuanian Organizations: The Context of Organisational Microclimate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, February.
    3. Rao, Neel, 2016. "Social effects in employer learning: An analysis of siblings," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 24-36.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    self-employment; post-graduation plans; academic success;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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