Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/142356 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9917
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We seek to quantify the role of education as a mechanism through which family background affects earnings. To this end, we propose a generalisation of statistical 'mediation analysis'. In our approach, the treatment and mediator can be multidimensional. This allows us to directly and flexibly account for a range of background characteristics which affect child earnings through the pathway of education and through other mechanisms. The results suggest that educational attainment explains 24%-39% of the overall family background effect on earnings in Australia. The mediating role of education seems to be larger for Australia than for the UK.
Subjects: 
mediation analysis
intergenerational mobility
equality of opportunity
JEL: 
I24
C49
J62
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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