Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0

Author-Name: Paul Bingley
Author-X-Name-First: Paul
Author-X-Name-Last: Bingley


Author-Name: Lorenzo Cappellari
Author-X-Name-First: Lorenzo
Author-X-Name-Last: Cappellari
Author-Email: lorenzo.cappellari@unicatt.it
Author-Workplace-Name: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Author-Workplace-Name: Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

Author-Name: Konstantinos Tatsiramos
Author-X-Name-First: Konstantinos 
Author-X-Name-Last: Tatsiramos





Title: Parental Assortative Mating and the Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital.


Abstract: We study the contribution of parental similarity in schooling levels to the intergenerational
transmission of educational attainment. We develop an empirical model for educational
correlations within the family in which parental sorting can translate into intergenerational
transmission, or transmission can originate from each parent independently. Estimating the
model using educational attainment from Danish population-based administrative data for over
400,000 families, we find that about 75 percent of the intergenerational correlation in education
is driven by the joint contribution of the parents. We also document a sizeable secular decline
of parental assortative mating in education, with a corresponding fall in joint intergenerational
transmission from both parents; a fall compensated by an increase in parent-specific
intergenerational transmission, leaving total intergenerational persistence unchanged. The
mechanisms of intergenerational transmission have changed, with an increased importance of
one-to-one parent-child relationships. 
Length: 29
Creation-Date: 2021-04
File-URL: http://dipartimenti.unicatt.it/economia-finanza-def101.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: First version, 2021
Number: def101
Classification-JEL: I24, J62. 
Keywords: Assortative mating, intergenerational transmission, human capital, inequality.
Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie1:def101