Generational Intelligence
The intergenerational correlation of employment: Mothers as role models?
Gabriela Galassi, David Koll & Lukas Mayr
Labour Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Linking data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the NLSY79 Children and Young Adults, we document a substantial positive correlation of employment status between mothers and their offspring in the United States. After controlling for ability, education, fertility and wealth, offspring of permanently employed mothers have an 11 percentage-point higher probability to be employed in each given year than those of never employed mothers. The intergenerational transmission of maternal employment is stronger to daughters but significant also to sons. Investigating potential mechanisms, we provide suggestive evidence for a role model channel, through which labor force participation may be transmitted. Offspring seem to emulate the example of their mother when they observe her working. By contrast, we are able to rule out alternative candidate explanations such as network effects, occupation-specific human capital and local conditions of the labor market.
The Role of Single Motherhood in America's High Child Poverty
David Brady, Regina Baker & Ryan Finnigan
Demography, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many claim a high prevalence of single motherhood plays a significant role in America's high child poverty. Using the Luxembourg Income Study, we compare the "prevalences and penalties" for child poverty across 30 rich democracies and within the United States over time (1979-2019). Several descriptive patterns contradict the importance of single motherhood. The U.S. prevalence of single motherhood is cross-nationally moderate and typical and is historically stable. Also, child poverty and the prevalence of single motherhood have trended in opposite directions in recent decades in the United States. More important than the prevalence of single motherhood, the United States stands out for having the highest penalty across 30 rich democracies. Counterfactual simulations demonstrate that reducing single motherhood would not substantially reduce child poverty. Even if there was zero single motherhood, (1) the United States would not change from having the fourth-highest child poverty rate, (2) the 41-year trend in child poverty would be very similar, and (3) the extreme racial inequalities in child poverty would not decline. Rather than the prevalence of single motherhood, the high penalty for single motherhood and extremely high Black and Latino child poverty rates, which exist regardless of single motherhood, are far more important to America's high child poverty.
Does inducing growth-oriented mindsets about math ability in parents enhance children's math mindsets, affect, and achievement?
Carolyn MacDonald et al.
Developmental Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
A parent-directed intervention designed to foster growth-oriented mindsets about math was evaluated in a longitudinal randomized-control trial. Parents (N = 615; 61% White, 22% Black; 63% with at least a bachelor's degree) participated in the intervention or an active control condition in which they learned about the Common Core math curriculum. Parents reported on their math mindsets and parenting practices (e.g., autonomy-supportive math homework assistance) over 15-18 months; their young elementary school children's (Mage = 7.17 years; 50% girls) math adjustment (e.g., mindsets and achievement) was also assessed. The intervention (vs. control) led to sustained increases in parents' beliefs that math ability is malleable and math failure is beneficial for learning. The intervention, however, did not improve their math parenting practices or children's math adjustment relative to the control. Instead, there were generally improvements in math parenting practices and children's math adjustment over the course of the study regardless of condition, perhaps because the control condition provided parents with useful information about the Common Core math curriculum. Overall, the findings indicate that although the mindset intervention was effective in instilling stronger growth-oriented mindsets about math in parents, this did not translate into benefits for children's math learning over and above the active control condition.
Unconditional cash transfers and maternal employment: Evidence from the Baby's First Years study
Maria Sauval et al.
Journal of Public Economics, August 2024
Abstract:
How the labor force participation of mothers of young children responds to unconditioned cash support remains an open question in policy debates. Using data from Baby's First Years, a large-scale randomized controlled study, we generate new estimates of the impact of an unconditional monthly cash transfer on maternal employment behavior through a child's first four years of life. We find no overall statistically detectable differences in whether mothers participated in the paid workforce or on total household earnings. Receipt of the cash transfer appears to have reduced hours of maternal work during the height of the pandemic in 2020-21.
Am I My Brother's Barkeeper? Sibling Spillovers in Alcohol Consumption at the Minimum Legal Drinking Age
Eunju Lee & Geoffrey Schnorr
American Journal of Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
We use data on siblings near the minimum drinking age to provide causal estimates of peer effects in alcohol consumption, exploiting the increase in consumption of the older sibling in a regression discontinuity design. We find no evidence for positive spillover effects of older sibling's legal access to alcohol on the younger sibling alcohol consumption. Although imprecise, preferred point estimates imply that younger sibling binge drinking decreases at the cutoff. These negative reduced form spillover effects are larger for siblings who are likely to spend more time together, for measures of excessive alcohol consumption, and in subgroups where the first stage discontinuity is largest. We argue that these patterns of heterogeneity are consistent with younger siblings learning from the costs of their older siblings' drinking behavior.