The Impact of Parental Wealth on Early Living Standards in Israel (original) (raw)
Related papers
Family Socioeconomic Status and Inequality of Opportunity
2009
Research has shown that family socioeconomic status (SES) is related to educational and labor force outcomes over the life course. Thus, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families are more likely to have low SES as adults. The present dissertation examines three key aspects related to the intergenerational transmission of family SES.
The impact of parental transfers on living standards of married children
Social indicators research, 2001
The paper focuses on the effect of various forms of parental assistance (i.e. financial support to meet living expenses, purchase of housing, funding education) on living standards (i.e., possession of material goods). Analysis of the data from the Israeli sample reveals a considerable variation among families with regard to parental support. The data demonstrate that support is more prevalent among families of high socioeconomic origin (and of smaller size) than among families of low socioeconomic origin. Parental support, in turn, significantly affects current standard of living (i.e. number of household goods in possession of the family). That is, families that have benefited from extensive support are more likely to maintain higher living standards net of social resources and labor market outcomes. The effect of support for education is mediated via labor market outcomes, whereas the impact of support toward purchase of home is direct and net of labor market rewards. The findings revealed by the analysis suggest, rather strongly, that parental transfers not only reproduce but may actually increase economic inequality across generations. The meaning of findings are discussed in light of theories of social stratification and inequality.
International Journal of Sociology, 2021
Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.
American Journal of Sociology, 1973
This book is an example of a new activity among social scientists. The activity has two components. The first, less new than the second, but important in the development of social research, is its focus on what might be termed "macrosocial research.') What I mean by macrosocial research is that the parameters estimated characterize a well-defined population, such as the U.S. population of a particular age range. Such research can do more than examine intraindividual processes, as much survey research has been confined to. ("Persons who are higher in X tend also to be higher in Y.") I t can, in its analysis, examine the functioning of social institutions through which that population passes. Demographers and sociologists concerned with occupational mobility have been doing this for some time, but it is only very recently that research involving education has begun to participate in macrosocial research. As the research on representative samples of the U.S. population or on representative samples of U.S. institutions of a particular sort (e.g., schools or hospitals) increases, the scope of macrosocial research will become broad enough to allow extensive quantitative studies of the U.S. social structure. The second component of this new activity, made possible by the existence of macrosocial research, is the bringing together of research results and reanalysis of data from a number of sources, all characterizing the same population, to draw implications for social policy. An earlier, but much smaller attempt in the same genre was the "Moynihan Report," a paper that drew together statistics on unemployment and AFDC payments to argue that the primary problem among blacks was a problem of employment of black males, and the primary solution lay in increasing their employment levels (Moynihan 1965). This book is more ambitious but more confused in purpose. I t brings together (1) research on the effect of family background, school resources, and IQ on cognitive achievement in school and on years of school completed; (2) research on the effect of cognitive achievement, years of school completed, and family background on occupational prestige and income; and (3) a variety of other statistics, including the average years of school completed and the inequality in school completion, over a period of years, and the average level of income and the inequality of income, again over a period of years.
Sociology Compass, 2017
Stratification in opportunities for and attainment of educational credentials, stable and well-paying jobs, wealth, and socioeconomic status causes problems for both individuals and the societies they live in. It is unclear, however, the extent to which important childhood experiences, such as family structure and transitions, shapes opportunity paths and eventual attainment later in adulthood. The intergenerational transmission literature suggests little if any role of family structure in later attainment, while family scholars and demographers find more compelling evidence that childhood family structures and transitions are influential in adulthood. We argue that both perspectives may be identifying selectivity processes that help explain potential links between families of origin and differences in opportunities to attain education, careers, and status. We then provide suggestions for future work in each of these scholarly traditions to help untangle both the degree to which family structure does or does not affect adult attainment and whether selectivity is the key explanation for any such relationships. 1 | INTRODUCTION Stratification in the opportunities to attain educational credentials, good jobs that lead to careers, and the kind of income that can lead to building wealth, as well as in the actual attainment of these resources, is a cause for concern both for individuals and for the communities they live in. For individuals, obstacles created by stratified opportunities may block their ability to attend their dream college, work in their dream job, or buy a home for their family in their dream neighborhood. At their extremes, such stratified opportunities create great stress for individuals who cannot make enough money to support themselves and their families, or who cannot reach the next rung on their career *We thank the following for helpful critique, interesting discussion, and useful suggestions:
Israel is one of the least equal countries in the Western world. Part of the responsibility for this lies with the government’s welfare policy, but most existing income inequalities stem from disparities in employment, work hours and wages. Wage gaps in Israel are higher than in any other developed country and are particularly evident where worker educational levels differ. Over the past decade the average Israeli worker’s educational level has risen greatly while at the same time, demand for educated workers has grown even faster, leading to the continued widening of wage gaps. Policies aimed at narrowing socioeconomic disparities in Israel should, in the short term, promote employment and provide income support to low-wage earners. In order to succeed in the long term, though, policies should upgrade the skills of the future generations of workers, and minimize the skill gaps. For this to happen, it is not enough to increase the number of years of schooling, the percentage of those eligible for matriculation certificates, or the percentage of those with academic degrees. It is also necessary to upgrade the curricula and the level of training provided by educational institutions.
American Journal of Sociology, 1973
This book is an example of a new activity among social scientists. The activity has two components. The first, less new than the second, but important in the development of social research, is its focus on what might be termed "macrosocial research.') What I mean by macrosocial research is that the parameters estimated characterize a well-defined population, such as the U.S. population of a particular age range. Such research can do more than examine intraindividual processes, as much survey research has been confined to. ("Persons who are higher in X tend also to be higher in Y.") I t can, in its analysis, examine the functioning of social institutions through which that population passes. Demographers and sociologists concerned with occupational mobility have been doing this for some time, but it is only very recently that research involving education has begun to participate in macrosocial research. As the research on representative samples of the U.S. population or on representative samples of U.S. institutions of a particular sort (e.g., schools or hospitals) increases, the scope of macrosocial research will become broad enough to allow extensive quantitative studies of the U.S. social structure. The second component of this new activity, made possible by the existence of macrosocial research, is the bringing together of research results and reanalysis of data from a number of sources, all characterizing the same population, to draw implications for social policy. An earlier, but much smaller attempt in the same genre was the "Moynihan Report," a paper that drew together statistics on unemployment and AFDC payments to argue that the primary problem among blacks was a problem of employment of black males, and the primary solution lay in increasing their employment levels (Moynihan 1965). This book is more ambitious but more confused in purpose. I t brings together (1) research on the effect of family background, school resources, and IQ on cognitive achievement in school and on years of school completed; (2) research on the effect of cognitive achievement, years of school completed, and family background on occupational prestige and income; and (3) a variety of other statistics, including the average years of school completed and the inequality in school completion, over a period of years, and the average level of income and the inequality of income, again over a period of years.
Mother's Occupational Status and Children's Schooling
American Sociological Review, 1994
After a long tradition of research on the intergenerational mobility of men, stratifi studies in the late 1970s and 1980s began to include women in their analyses. Most studies, however, still rely primarily on characteristics offathers to measure family background status. Using a large national cross-sectional data set, this study describes the influence of mother's occupational status on children's educational attainment. I compare the strengths of maternal and paternal influences and use birth cohorts to examine whether the relative influence of mothers has changed. The main findings are: Maternal occupational status has a strong effect on schooling, this effect is independent offather's education and occupation, it persists through the schooling career, and it is as important for sons asfor daughters. Some evidence suggests that the influence of mother's occupation has increased while the influence offather's occupation has decreased. In contrast, mother's education has always been as important as father's education. In general, the findings underscore the positive effects of maternal labor force participation on child outcomes through the high-status jobs many married women now hold. At the same time, this study suggests that the independent influence of mother's socioeconomic status may lead to an accumulation of educational advantages and disadvantages in subsequent generations, possibly reducing the intergenerational mobility offamilies. After stratification research was criticized in the early 1970s for focusing almost exclusively on men (Acker 1973), studies appeared that examined the intergenerational occupational mobility of women and the determinants of women's socioeconomic achievement (Tyree and Treas 1974; Treiman and Terrell 1975; Featherman and Hauser 1976; Sewell, Hauser, and Wolf 1980). This broadening in scope provided a more balanced view of the status attainment process and was particularly warranted by women's rapidly expanding economic roles in American society. Although women are now included in the stratification research agenda, empirical studies have retained their male biases in another respect.
Impatient with sluggish societal processes, egalitarian school systems eagerly attempt to promote disadvantaged students. Nevertheless, despite intentional educational investment and latent social amelioration, achievement differentials along social lines endure over time and even widen. The persisting differentials do not surprise the "allocation" theorists who rely on political and cultural mechanisms of exclusion in explaining the continuous superiority of the socially "strong." They however challenge "socialization" theories that stress the capability of schools to improve the achievement of the "weak" (Kerckhoff 1976).