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The Italian educational system: family background and social stratification

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  • Daniele Checchi

Abstract

The paper is organised as follows. In section 2 we review existing empirical evidence over the lower educational attainment in Italy when compared to other major European countries. Our country is also characterised by low intergenerational mobility, even if recent cohorts face an improved situation. Section 3 discusses alternative explanations of this evidence, taking into account wrong expectations formation, low returns to education and low resources invested in education. These explanations are all disregarded for being unable to explain both low achievement and strong parental dependence. Section 4 provides new evidence on the intergenerational persistence in educational attainment, showing that family income is statistically irrelevant, whereas parental education matters in attending secondary school and university. However, most of the effect of parental education passes through the choice of secondary school (high school versus technical schools), a choice that in Italy is undertaken quite early (when the child is aged 13). Section 5 contains some concluding remarks and discuss some policy options.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniele Checchi, 2003. "The Italian educational system: family background and social stratification," Departmental Working Papers 2003-01, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    • Handle: RePEc:mil:wpdepa:2003-01
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    1. Freeman, Richard B., 1987. "Demand for education," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & R. Layard (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 357-386, Elsevier.
    2. Giuseppe Bertola & Daniele Checchi, 2004. "Sorting and Private Education in Italy," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Daniele Checchi & Claudio Lucifora (ed.), Education, Training and Labour Market Outcomes in Europe, chapter 4, pages 69-108, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Smith, Richard J & Blundell, Richard W, 1986. "An Exogeneity Test for a Simultaneous Equation Tobit Model with an Application to Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 679-685, May.
    4. Yoram Ben-Porath, 1967. "The Production of Human Capital and the Life Cycle of Earnings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 352-352.
    5. Brunello, Giorgio & Lucifora, Claudio & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2001. "The Wage Expectations of European College Students," IZA Discussion Papers 299, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Brunello, Giorgio & Miniaci, Raffaele, 1999. "The economic returns to schooling for Italian men. An evaluation based on instrumental variables1," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 509-519, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniele Checchi & Luca Flabbi, 2013. "Intergenerational Mobility and Schooling Decisions in Germany and Italy: The Impact of Secondary School Tracks," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, issue 3, pages 7-57, July-Sept.
    2. Olga Demidova & Marcello Signorelli, 2012. "Determinants of youth unemployment in Russian regions," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 191-217, January.
    3. Massimiliano Bratti & Daniele Checchi & Guido De Blasio, 2008. "Does the Expansion of Higher Education Increase the Equality of Educational Opportunities? Evidence from Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 22(s1), pages 53-88, June.
    4. Mauro Sylos Labini, 2004. "Social Networks and Wages: It's All About Connections!," LEM Papers Series 2004/10, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    5. Patrizia Ordine & Giuseppe Rose, 2011. "Educational Mismatch and Wait Unemployment," Working Papers 19, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium.
    6. Dario Sciulli & Marcello Signorelli, 2010. "University-to-work transitions: the case of Perugia," Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia, Finanza e Statistica 77/2010, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    7. Patrizia Ordine & Claudio Lupi, 2009. "Family Income and Students' Mobility," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 68(1), pages 1-23, April.
    8. Floro Ernesto Caroleo & Francesco Pastore, 2009. "Le cause del(l') (in)successo lavorativo dei giovani," Economia & lavoro, Carocci editore, issue 3, pages 107-107.
    9. Teresa Baribieri & Vito Peragine & Michele Raitano, 2025. "We provide a detailed picture of the causal relationship between schooling and earnings dynamics by relying on the Italian case and estimating the effect of education on earnings level, mobility and v," SERIES 03-2025, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Oct 2025.
    10. Stefania Gabriele & Fiorella Kostoris Padoa Schioppa, 2006. "Un’analisi economica della mobilità sociale in Italia," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 96(3), pages 47-111, May-June.

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