Education

Wages, experience, and training of women over the life cycle

This paper finds that on-the-job training can help mitigate some of the negative career effects of having children, especially for women who left education at the end of high school. … Read more

Competitive schools and the gender gap in the choice of field of study

In most developed countries, students have to choose a major field of study during high school. This is an important decision because it largely determines subsequent educational and occupational choices. … Read more

Genetic advantage and equality of opportunity in education: Two definitions, and an empirical application

Authors: Rita Dias Pereira,
Issue: 2022
Themes: ,

Research on equality of opportunity has long acknowledged that genetic factors play a role in determining our level of success. But if we want to measure equality of opportunity, should … Read more

The stratification of education systems and social background inequality of educational opportunity

Authors: Claudia Traini,
Issue: 2021
Themes: ,

This study asks two questions about the relationship between academic selection and social inequality: does increasing selection lead to a deeper social divide in education? And does postponing the age … Read more

How does exposure to a different school track influence learning progress? Explaining scissor effects by track in Germany

Authors: Claudia Traini, Corinna Kleinert, Felix Bittmann,
Issue: 2021
Themes:

The researchers in this study use the German National Educational Panel Study to compare data on the reading and mathematics scores of almost 1600 pupils in the upper and intermediate … Read more

DIAL Policy Brief No. 2 ‘Towards a socially mobile Europe: What can policymakers learn from Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course (DIAL) research?’

Authors: Fran Abrams, Elina Kilpi-Jakonen,
Issue: 2021
Themes: , ,

There are a number of key European policy agendas related to social mobility on which the DIAL research can shed light. This policy brief gives an overview of findings from … Read more

Socioeconomic Background and Gene–Environment Interplay in Social Stratification across the Early Life Course

This study finds that genetic inheritance has more influence than the shared social environment alone in perpetuating social inequalities. However, the importance of genes varies according family environment: genetic influences are … Read more

The association between mother’s education level and early child language skills; findings from three European cohort studies

The development of language skills during the early years of a child’s life are vital for school readiness, educational attainment, and later life outcomes. The socio-economic background of parents, as … Read more

Father’s occupation, children’s vocabulary, and whether changing occupation creates social mobility in the UK

In the UK the issue of social mobility, the link between a person’s life outcomes and that of their parents, has been of concern since the 1970s. Despite many interventions … Read more

The Intergenerational Elasticity of Earnings: Exploring the Mechanisms

Rich parents have rich children. Why is that? This paper evaluates several different potential channels that might explain the persistence in earnings between parents and children. In particular, the researchers … Read more