Paternal Unemployment During Childhood: Causal Effects on Youth Worklessness and Educational Attainment
Steffen Müller, Regina T. Riphahn, Caroline Schwientek
Oxford Economic Papers,
No. 1,
2017
Abstract
Using long-running data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984–2012), we investigate the impact of paternal unemployment on child labour market and education outcomes. We first describe correlation patterns and then use sibling fixed effects and the Gottschalk (1996) method to identify the causal effects of paternal unemployment. We find different patterns for sons and daughters. Paternal unemployment does not seem to causally affect the outcomes of sons. In contrast, it increases both daughters’ worklessness and educational attainment. We test the robustness of the results and explore potential explanations.
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14.07.2016 • 32/2016
Arbeitslosigkeit des Vaters spornt Mädchen zu Bildungsaufstieg an
Arbeitslosigkeit vererbt sich nicht nur vom Vater auf den Sohn, sondern auch auf die Tochter. Kinder arbeitsloser Väter investieren zudem weniger in Bildung. Doch während bei den Söhnen vor allem indirekte Faktoren wie das gemeinsame Umfeld eine negative Rolle spielen, werden die Töchter zusätzlich auch direkt durch väterliche Arbeitslosigkeit beeinflusst. Eine neue Studie des Leibniz-Instituts für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) zeigt: War der Vater arbeitslos, ist zwar auch bei der Tochter die Wahrscheinlichkeit künftiger Arbeitslosigkeit höher. Gleichzeitig existiert bei ihnen aber eine Gegenbewegung: Ihre Investitionen in Bildung steigen.
Steffen Müller
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Paternal Unemployment During Childhood: Causal Effects on Youth Worklessness and Educational Attainment
Steffen Müller, Regina T. Riphahn, Caroline Schwientek
Abstract
Using long-running data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-2012), we investigate the impact of paternal unemployment on child labor market and education outcomes. We first describe correlation patterns and then use sibling fixed effects and the Gottschalk (1996) method to identify the causal effects of paternal unemployment. We find different patterns for sons and daughters. Paternal unemployment does not seem to causally affect the outcomes of sons. In contrast, it increases both daughters‘ worklessness and educational attainment. We test the robustness of the results and explore potential explanations.
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Intergenerational Transmission of Unemployment - Evidence for German Sons
M. Mäder, Steffen Müller, Caroline Schwientek, Regina T. Riphahn
Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik,
No. 4,
2015
Abstract
This paper studies the association between the unemployment experience of fathers and their sons. Based on German survey data that cover the last decades we find significant positive correlations. Using instrumental variables estimation and the Gottschalk (1996) method we investigate to what extent fathers' unemployment is causal for offsprings' employment outcomes. In agreement with most of the small international literature we do not find a positive causal effect for intergenerational unemployment transmission. This outcome is robust to alternative data structures and to tests at the intensive and extensive margin of unemployment.
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