Cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and family background: evidence from sibling correlations

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelForschungPeer-Review

Autoren

  • Silke Anger
  • Daniel D. Schnitzlein

Organisationseinheiten

Externe Organisationen

  • IAB-Regional Berlin-Brandenburg
  • Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg
  • Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (IZA)
  • Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung e.V. (DIW Berlin)
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Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)591-620
Seitenumfang30
FachzeitschriftJournal of population economics
Jahrgang30
Ausgabenummer2
Frühes Online-Datum12 Nov. 2016
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - Apr. 2017

Abstract

This paper estimates sibling correlations in cognitive and non-cognitive skills to evaluate the importance of family background for skill formation. Based on a large representative German dataset including IQ test scores and measures of non-cognitive skills, a restricted maximum likelihood model indicates a strong relationship between family background and skill formation. Sibling correlations in non-cognitive skills range from 0.22 to 0.46; therefore, at least one-fifth of the variance in these skills results from shared sibling-related factors. Sibling correlations in cognitive skills are higher than 0.50; therefore, more than half of the inequality in cognition can be explained by shared family background. Comparing these findings with those in the intergenerational skill transmission literature suggests that intergenerational correlations capture only part of the influence of family on children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills, as confirmed by decomposition analyses and in line with previous findings on educational and income mobility.

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Zitieren

Cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and family background: evidence from sibling correlations. / Anger, Silke; Schnitzlein, Daniel D.
in: Journal of population economics, Jahrgang 30, Nr. 2, 04.2017, S. 591-620.

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelForschungPeer-Review

Anger S, Schnitzlein DD. Cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and family background: evidence from sibling correlations. Journal of population economics. 2017 Apr;30(2):591-620. Epub 2016 Nov 12. doi: 10.1007/s00148-016-0625-9
Anger, Silke ; Schnitzlein, Daniel D. / Cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and family background : evidence from sibling correlations. in: Journal of population economics. 2017 ; Jahrgang 30, Nr. 2. S. 591-620.
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