Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/34895 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3646
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We use unique administrative German data to examine the role of childhood health for the intergenerational transmission of human capital. Specifically, we examine the extent to which a comprehensive list of health conditions - diagnosed by government physicians - can account for developmental gaps between the children of college educated parents and those of less educated parents. In total, health conditions explain 18% of the gap in cognitive ability and 65% of that in language ability, based on estimations with sibling fixed effects. Thus, policies aimed at reducing disparities in child achievement should also focus on improving the health of disadvantaged children.
Subjects: 
Health inequality
human capital formation
childhood health
intergenerational mobility
JEL: 
J13
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
265.27 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.