Work

On the Family Origins of Human Capital Formation: Evidence from Donor Children

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: We introduce a novel strategy to study the intergenerational transmission of human capital skills, net of genetic skill transfers. For this purpose, we use unique Danish data on children conceived through sperm and egg donation in in vitro fertilization treatments to estimate the relationship between child test scores and parental years of schooling. Because the assignment of donors is not selective, these parental schooling estimates allow for a causal nurture interpretation. Once we take account of genes, we find that only the education of mothers matters: the association between father’s education and child test scores (in reading and math) is insignificant and practically zero, whereas the association between mother’s education and child test scores (in reading, not in math) is significant and large, and as large as the association we estimate for mothers of non-donor children.

Source: The Review of Economic Studies

DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdae101

Authors: Petter Lundborg, Erik Plug, Astrid Würtz Rasmussen

Institutions: Lund University, IZA - Institute of Labor Economics, Tinbergen Institute, University of Amsterdam, Aarhus University

Language: English

Topic: Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $6,647

Funders: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Vetenskapsrådet, Forskningsrådet om Hälsa, Arbetsliv och Välfärd, Institutet för arbetsmarknads- och utbildningspolitisk politisk utvärdering