The relationship between contextual characteristics and the intergenerational correlation of education in developing countries

We investigate the importance of contextual variables in explaining the differences in the correlation of education from parents to children in 48 developing countries. The contextual characteristics are internationally comparable macro-economic and institutional indicators. We use measures on GDP and industrial development, public spending, the education system, infrastructure, health outcomes, political stability and accountability. Our results show that contextual characteristics account for 39% of the explained cross-country variation in the education correlation across generations. The quality of the education system is the most important explanation of the variation of the intergenerational education correlation in the developing countries.