Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282686 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16559
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper examines the idea that the increasing return to college is reducing intergenerational mobility by differentially impacting the investments in children by parents across education groups. A larger return to college will create stronger incentives to invest in children by parents with more education, if educated parents have a comparative advantage in producing human capital in children. Given the importance of a two-parent household on childhood development, marital status is a critical investment decision that parents consider. Relative to less-educated mothers, the analysis shows that educated mothers in states with a larger increase in the return to education are more likely to be married, less likely to divorce, have a more educated spouse, and own more valuable houses. Their children also have relatively higher test scores in 8th grade and rates of college completion. These results are consistent with the increasing return to college differentially affecting the incentives for parental investments in children, which in turn, creates greater disparities in childhood conditions and reduces intergenerational mobility in education.
Subjects: 
marriage
inequality
return to college
JEL: 
I24
I26
J12
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
891.46 kB





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