Parental Education and Children’s Schooling Outcomes : Is the Effect Nature, Nurture, or Both? Evidence from Recomposed Families in Rwanda
Educated parents tend to have educated children. But is intergenerational transmission of human capital more nature, more nurture, or both? The author uses household survey data from Rwanda that contains a large proportion of children living in households without their biological parents. The data a...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/01/5601710/parental-education-childrens-schooling-outcomes-effect-nature-nurture-or-both-evidence-recomposed-families-rwanda http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8894 |
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okr-10986-88942021-04-23T14:02:42Z Parental Education and Children’s Schooling Outcomes : Is the Effect Nature, Nurture, or Both? Evidence from Recomposed Families in Rwanda de Walque, Damien ABANDONED CHILDREN ADOPTED CHILDREN ADOPTIVE FAMILIES ADOPTIVE PARENTS ADULTS AGED CHILD LABOR CITIES DEMOGRAPHY DISCRIMINATION EARLY CHILDHOOD EXTENDED FAMILIES FAMILIES FAMILY STRUCTURE FATHERS FOSTER FAMILIES GIRLS HUMAN RIGHTS INFANTS LAWS LIVING CONDITIONS MALES MALNUTRITION MOTHERS ORPHANAGES ORPHANS PARENTS POPULATION STUDIES POWER SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS TWINS UNAIDS WORKERS Educated parents tend to have educated children. But is intergenerational transmission of human capital more nature, more nurture, or both? The author uses household survey data from Rwanda that contains a large proportion of children living in households without their biological parents. The data allows him to separate genetic from environmental parental influences. The nonrandom placement of children is controlled by including the educational attainment of the absent biological parents and the type of relationship that links the children to their "adoptive" families. The results of the analysis suggest that the nurture component of the intergenerational transmission of human capital is important for both parents, contrary to recent evidence proposed by Behrman and Rosenzweig (2002) and Plug (2004). The author concludes that mothers education had no environmental impact on children s schooling. Interestingly, mothers education matters more for girls, while fathers education is more important for boys. Finally, an important policy recommendation in the African context emerges from the analysis: the risk for orphans or abandoned children to lose ground in their schooling achievements is minimized if they are placed with relatives. 2012-06-22T21:57:54Z 2012-06-22T21:57:54Z 2005-01 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/01/5601710/parental-education-childrens-schooling-outcomes-effect-nature-nurture-or-both-evidence-recomposed-families-rwanda http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8894 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3483 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Africa Rwanda |
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Digital Repository |
institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
institution |
Digital Repositories |
building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
collection |
World Bank |
language |
English |
topic |
ABANDONED CHILDREN ADOPTED CHILDREN ADOPTIVE FAMILIES ADOPTIVE PARENTS ADULTS AGED CHILD LABOR CITIES DEMOGRAPHY DISCRIMINATION EARLY CHILDHOOD EXTENDED FAMILIES FAMILIES FAMILY STRUCTURE FATHERS FOSTER FAMILIES GIRLS HUMAN RIGHTS INFANTS LAWS LIVING CONDITIONS MALES MALNUTRITION MOTHERS ORPHANAGES ORPHANS PARENTS POPULATION STUDIES POWER SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS TWINS UNAIDS WORKERS |
spellingShingle |
ABANDONED CHILDREN ADOPTED CHILDREN ADOPTIVE FAMILIES ADOPTIVE PARENTS ADULTS AGED CHILD LABOR CITIES DEMOGRAPHY DISCRIMINATION EARLY CHILDHOOD EXTENDED FAMILIES FAMILIES FAMILY STRUCTURE FATHERS FOSTER FAMILIES GIRLS HUMAN RIGHTS INFANTS LAWS LIVING CONDITIONS MALES MALNUTRITION MOTHERS ORPHANAGES ORPHANS PARENTS POPULATION STUDIES POWER SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS TWINS UNAIDS WORKERS de Walque, Damien Parental Education and Children’s Schooling Outcomes : Is the Effect Nature, Nurture, or Both? Evidence from Recomposed Families in Rwanda |
geographic_facet |
Africa Rwanda |
relation |
Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3483 |
description |
Educated parents tend to have educated children. But is intergenerational transmission of human capital more nature, more nurture, or both? The author uses household survey data from Rwanda that contains a large proportion of children living in households without their biological parents. The data allows him to separate genetic from environmental parental influences. The nonrandom placement of children is controlled by including the educational attainment of the absent biological parents and the type of relationship that links the children to their "adoptive" families. The results of the analysis suggest that the nurture component of the intergenerational transmission of human capital is important for both parents, contrary to recent evidence proposed by Behrman and Rosenzweig (2002) and Plug (2004). The author concludes that mothers education had no environmental impact on children s schooling. Interestingly, mothers education matters more for girls, while fathers education is more important for boys. Finally, an important policy recommendation in the African context emerges from the analysis: the risk for orphans or abandoned children to lose ground in their schooling achievements is minimized if they are placed with relatives. |
format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
author |
de Walque, Damien |
author_facet |
de Walque, Damien |
author_sort |
de Walque, Damien |
title |
Parental Education and Children’s Schooling Outcomes : Is the Effect Nature, Nurture, or Both? Evidence from Recomposed Families in Rwanda |
title_short |
Parental Education and Children’s Schooling Outcomes : Is the Effect Nature, Nurture, or Both? Evidence from Recomposed Families in Rwanda |
title_full |
Parental Education and Children’s Schooling Outcomes : Is the Effect Nature, Nurture, or Both? Evidence from Recomposed Families in Rwanda |
title_fullStr |
Parental Education and Children’s Schooling Outcomes : Is the Effect Nature, Nurture, or Both? Evidence from Recomposed Families in Rwanda |
title_full_unstemmed |
Parental Education and Children’s Schooling Outcomes : Is the Effect Nature, Nurture, or Both? Evidence from Recomposed Families in Rwanda |
title_sort |
parental education and children’s schooling outcomes : is the effect nature, nurture, or both? evidence from recomposed families in rwanda |
publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/01/5601710/parental-education-childrens-schooling-outcomes-effect-nature-nurture-or-both-evidence-recomposed-families-rwanda http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8894 |
_version_ |
1764406938375815168 |