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Parental Education and Invention: The Finnish Enigma

Author

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

Abstract

Why is invention strongly positively correlated with parental income not only in the US but also in Finland which displays low income inequality and high social mobility? Using data on 1.45M Finnish individuals and their parents, we find that: (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 a 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

  • Philippe Aghion & Ufuk Akcigit & Ari Hyytinen & Otto Toivanen, 2023. "Parental Education and Invention: The Finnish Enigma," NBER Working Papers 30964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30964
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    Cited by:

    1. Leighton, Margaret & Speer, Jamin D., 2023. "Rich Grad, Poor Grad: Family Background and College Major Choice," IZA Discussion Papers 16099, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. 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.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

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