@techreport{b3fcaa5826914594b62df6c521582cbe,
title = "The intergenerational transmission of cognitive skills: an investigation of the causal impact of families on student outcomes",
abstract = "The extensive literature on intergenerational mobility highlights the importance of family linkages but fails to provide credible evidence about the underlying family factors that drive the pervasive correlations. We employ a unique combination of Dutch survey and registry data that links math and language skills across generations. We identify a causal connection between cognitive skills of parents and their children by exploiting within-family between-subject variation in these skills. The data also permit novel IV estimation that isolates variation in parental cognitive skills due to school and peer quality. The between-subject and IV estimates of the key intergenerational persistence parameter are strikingly similar and close at about 0.1. Finally, we show the strong influence of family skill transmission on children{\textquoteright}s choices of STEM fields.",
keywords = "intergenerational mobility, parent-child skill transmission, causality, STEM",
author = "Hanushek, {Eric A.} and Babs Jacobs and Guido Schwerdt and {van der Velden}, Rolf and Stan Vermeulen and Simon Wiederhold",
year = "2021",
month = nov,
day = "11",
language = "English",
series = "ROA External Reports",
publisher = "CESifo",
type = "WorkingPaper",
institution = "CESifo",
}