Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Educational Attainment Is Inherited

The "education advantage" appears to be passed down from parents to children even more strongly than the income advantage, according to a Brookings Institution study. An analysis of the educational attainment of fathers and their adult children finds 46 percent of children whose fathers were in the top education quintile also ended up in the top quintile, and 76 percent were in the top two quintiles. Doing the same analysis with incomes reveals the comparable figures to be a smaller 41 and 65 percent.

"The trend towards assortative mating—like marrying like—will likely strengthen the intergenerational transmission of high educational status," conclude the researchers.

Source: Brookings Institution, The Inheritance of Education

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