Is there Educational Mobility in India? An IV-2SLS Estimation of Intergenerational Effects of Parental Education on Child Education

Abstract

 Analysis of intergenerational relations focusses on the extent to which economic and social status of children is influenced by that of their parents. Intergenerational effects may reflect mere selection, parents with higher ability having higher ability children, or a causal effect, parental social and economic characteristics affect child outcomes. Persistence of intergenerational relations show transmission, whereas intergenerational mobility relates to the progress occurring from one generation to the next. Among various aspects of intergenerational social and economic relations, income, occupation and education mobility are the basic intergenerational effects that determine the progress of a society. This paper estimates the intergenerational educational mobility in India using the IHDS-II (2011–2012) data. To overcome the endogeneity issue, parental education correlated with ability, this paper uses an instrumental variables approach. The instrument used is the New Scheme of Elementary Education (NSEE) introduced in 1953 which made schooling compulsory. The IV-2SLS estimates show a high degree of intergenerational persistence in education. The Indian society seems to be less mobile educationally, and especially, mother-child educational relations reflect intergenerational educational transmission.