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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Main Author: de Walque, Damien
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
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
id okr-10986-8894
recordtype oai_dc
spelling 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
repository_type 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
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