Educational attainment and family background
Working paper
Permanent lenke
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/162694Utgivelsesdato
2005-04Metadata
Vis full innførselSamlinger
- Discussion papers (SAM) [663]
Sammendrag
This paper analyses the effect of aspects of family background, such as family income
and parental education, on the educational attainment of persons born from 1967 to
1972. Family income is measured at different periods of a child’s life to separate longterm
versus short-term effects of family income on educational choices. We find that
permanent income matters to a certain degree, and that family income when the child is
0-6 years old is an important explanatory variable for educational attainment later in a
child’s life. We find that short-term credit constraints have only a small effect on
educational attainment. Long term factors, such as permanent family income and
parental education are much more important for educational attainment than are shortterm
credit constraints. Public interventions to alleviate the effects of family background
should thus also be targeted at a child's early years, the shaping period for the cognitive
and non-cognitive skills important later in life.
Utgiver
Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Department of EconomicsSerie
Discussion paper2005:10