TY - JOUR
T1 - Education Transmission and Network Formation
AU - Boucher, Vincent
AU - Del Bello, Carlo L.
AU - Panebianco, Fabrizio
AU - Verdier, Thierry
AU - Zenou, Yves
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - We propose a model of intergenerational transmission of education wherein children belong to either highly educated or low-educated families. Children choose the intensity of their social activities while parents decide how much educational effort to exert. Using data on adolescents in the United States, we structurally estimate this model and find that, on average, children's homophily acts as a complement to the educational effort of highly educated parents but as a substitute for the educational effort of low-educated parents. We also perform some counterfactual policy simulations. We find that policies that subsidize kids' socialization efforts can backfire for low-educated students because they tend to increase their interactions with other low-educated students (i.e., homophily), which reduces the education effort of their parents and, thus, their chance of becoming educated. On the contrary, policies that increase heterophily by favoring friendship links between kids from different education backgrounds can be effective in reducing the education gap between them.
AB - We propose a model of intergenerational transmission of education wherein children belong to either highly educated or low-educated families. Children choose the intensity of their social activities while parents decide how much educational effort to exert. Using data on adolescents in the United States, we structurally estimate this model and find that, on average, children's homophily acts as a complement to the educational effort of highly educated parents but as a substitute for the educational effort of low-educated parents. We also perform some counterfactual policy simulations. We find that policies that subsidize kids' socialization efforts can backfire for low-educated students because they tend to increase their interactions with other low-educated students (i.e., homophily), which reduces the education effort of their parents and, thus, their chance of becoming educated. On the contrary, policies that increase heterophily by favoring friendship links between kids from different education backgrounds can be effective in reducing the education gap between them.
KW - Cultural Transmission
KW - Network
KW - Cultural Transmission
KW - Network
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/206401
U2 - 10.1086/718981
DO - 10.1086/718981
M3 - Article
SN - 1537-5307
SP - N/A-N/A
JO - Journal of Labor Economics
JF - Journal of Labor Economics
ER -