IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sza/wpaper/wpapers294.html

Home background and schooling outcomes in South Africa: Insights from the National Income Dynamics Study

Author

Listed:
  • Heleen Hofmeyr

    (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University)

Abstract

Patterns of poverty and inequality in South Africa are largely sustained by differential educational outcomes of children across different strata of society. Most of these differences in educational outcomes are attributed to large differences in the quality of education received by children. It is the intention of this paper to add to our understanding of the determinants of educational outcomes in South Africa by investigating the role of the family in determining these heterogeneous educational outcomes. This is done by estimating the relationship between home background and schooling outcomes for a sample of South African youths. The analysis in this paper suggests a strong correlation between home background and the educational outcomes of the sample at hand. Broadly, the co-residence of biological parents in the household and the education attained by parents are found to be positively associated with educational outcomes of children.

Suggested Citation

  • Heleen Hofmeyr, 2018. "Home background and schooling outcomes in South Africa: Insights from the National Income Dynamics Study," Working Papers 01/2018, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers294
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ekon.sun.ac.za/wpapers/2018/wp012018/wp012018.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2018
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lotte van der Vleuten, 2016. "Mind The Gap! The Influence of Family Systems on The Gender Education Gap in Developing Countries, 1950--2005," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 47-81, March.
    2. Handa, Sudhanshu, 1994. "Gender, headship and intrahousehold resource allocation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 1535-1547, October.
    3. Asmus Zoch, 2013. "Life chances and class: Estimating inequality of opportunity in South Africa for various life stages," Working Papers 08/2013, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    4. Asmus Zoch, 2015. "Life chances and class: Estimating inequality of opportunity for children and adolescents in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 57-75, January.
    5. Nic Spaull, 2011. "A Preliminary Analysis of SACMEQ III South Africa," Working Papers 11/2011, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    6. Servaas van der Berg, 2007. "Apartheid's Enduring Legacy: Inequalities in Education-super- 1," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 16(5), pages 849-880, November.
    7. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis, 2002. "The Inheritance of Inequality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 3-30, Summer.
    8. Chris van Wyk, 2015. "An overview of Education data in South Africa: an inventory approach," Working Papers 19/2015, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicholas Spaull, 2012. "Poverty & Privilege: Primary School Inequality in South Africa," Working Papers 13/2012, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    2. Cristián Hodge, 2025. "Fraternity as mutual aid or mutual assistance? From political fraternity to Economics of Francesco," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 72(2), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Nicola Branson & Julia Garlick & David Lam & Murray Leibbrandt, 2012. "Education and Inequality: The South African Case," SALDRU Working Papers 75, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    4. Gilles Le Garrec & Stéphane Lhuissier, 2011. "Life expectancy, heavy work and the return to education: lessons for the social security reform," Sciences Po Economics Publications (main) hal-01069511, HAL.
    5. Malcolm Keswell, 2004. "Non‐Linear Earnings Dynamics In Post‐Apartheid South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 72(5), pages 913-939, December.
    6. Sébastien Fontenay & Libertad González, 2025. "When Fathers Step In: Long-Term Consequences of Early Paternal Involvement," Working Papers 1542, Barcelona School of Economics.
    7. Checchi, Daniele & Fiorio, Carlo V. & Leonardi, Marco, 2013. "Intergenerational persistence of educational attainment in Italy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 229-232.
    8. Carmen Camacho & Fernanda Estevan, 2023. "Intergeneration Human Capital Transmission and Poverty Traps," PSE Working Papers halshs-04075431, HAL.
    9. Mendolia, Silvia & Siminski, Peter, 2017. "Is education the mechanism through which family background affects economic outcomes? A generalised approach to mediation analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-12.
    10. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11242 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Ana I. Moro Egido & Maria Navarro, 2023. "Intergenerational Transmission of Economic Strain and High School Dropout," ThE Papers 23/07, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
    12. Heather Brown & Marjon van der Pol, 2014. "The Role Of Time Preferences In The Intergenerational Transfer Of Smoking," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(12), pages 1493-1501, December.
    13. Yoel Finkel & Yevgeny Artsev & Shlomo Yitzhaki, 2006. "Inequality measurement and the time structure of household income in Israel," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 4(2), pages 153-179, August.
    14. Kazutoshi Miyazawa, 2006. "Growth and inequality: a demographic explanation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 19(3), pages 559-578, July.
    15. Lång, Elisabeth & Nystedt, Paul, 2018. "Blowing up money? The earnings penalty of smoking in the 1970s and the 21st century," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 39-52.
    16. Samuel Bowles & Rajiv Sethi, 2006. "Social Segregation and the Dynamics of Group Inequality," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2006-02, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    17. Samuel Bowles & Glenn C. Loury & Rajiv Sethi, 2014. "Group Inequality," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 129-152, February.
    18. Lubna Naz & Abdul Salam Lodhi & Daniel W. Tsegai, 2020. "Parents’ Perception of Education and Choice of Childhood Activities: Evidence from Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 335-355.
    19. Gilles Le Garrec, 2012. "Social security and growth in an aging economy : the case of acturial fairness," Working Papers hal-01070354, HAL.
    20. David Brasington & Mika Kato & Willi Semmler, 2010. "Transitioning Out Of Poverty," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 68-95, February.
    21. Fabrice Murtin & Thomas Laurent & Geoff Barnard & Dean Janse van Rensburg & Vijay Reddy & George Frempong & Lolita Winnaar, 2015. "Policy Determinants of School Outcomes under Model Uncertainty: Evidence from South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(3), pages 317-334, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers294. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Melt van Schoor (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/desunza.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.