The role of childhood health for the intergenerational transmission of human capital: Evidence from administrative data
Publication type:
Scholarly edition
Metadata:
Abstract
We use unique administrative German data to examine the role of childhood
health for the intergenerational transmission of human capital. Specifically, we
examine the extent to which a comprehensive list of health conditions –
diagnosed by government physicians – can account for developmental gaps
between the children of college educated parents and those of less educated
parents. In total, health conditions explain 18% of the gap in cognitive ability
and 65% of that in language ability, based on estimations with sibling fixed
effects. Thus, policies aimed at reducing disparities in child achievement should
also focus on improving the health of disadvantaged children.
Addresses
Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA)
Autoren
Martin Salm
Daniel Schunk
Schlüsselwörter
J13
I20
I12
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2008
Titel
The role of childhood health for the intergenerational transmission of human capital: Evidence from administrative data