1 Introduction
Along the lines of Philip Larkins’ cynical poem about inherited disadvantage, a growing body of literature suggests that equality of condition originates from equality of opportunity (Putnam 2015). While the first is concerned with the distribution of income, wealth, or living conditions, in general, the latter stems from the egalitarian goal that every person’s chances of social success should be independent of ascribed characteristics such as sex, race, or class origin. If the egalitarian premise is undermined, by systematic reproduction and extension of existing stratification, segregation and political radicalisation begin to threaten the stability of democracy.(...) Man hands on misery to man./ It deepens like a coastal shelf.Get out as early as you can,/ And don’t have any kids yourself.Philip Larkin - This Be The Verse
2 Literature Review and Research Hypotheses
2.1 The Case of Germany
2.2 What Determines Educational Success
PAPER | Davies et al. (2014) | Notten and Kraaykamp (2010) | Roos et al. (2013) | Witte and Rogge (2013) | Hagan and Foster (2012) | Stadelmann-Steffen (2011) | Lowman and Elliott (2010) | Tramonte and Willms (2010) | Van Doorn et al. (2011) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DEPENDENT VARIABLE | Attendance of university (0/1) | Educational attainment (0–10) | Educational achievement | Dropout from secondary school | Completed College | 2006 PISA math score | Students expectations | 2000 PISA reading score | Virtual yearsa |
LEVEL 1 CONTROLS | |||||||||
INDIVIDUAL
| |||||||||
Gender | ✓ | ✓* | ✓* | ✓ | ✓* | ✓* | ✓* | ✓* | |
Age | ✓ cohort | ✓ birth order* | ✓ | ✓ | 15 years old | ✓ generation | 15 years old | ||
Ethnicity | ✓* | ✓* | ✓ foreigner* | ✓* | |||||
Language | ✓ | ||||||||
Health issues | ✓* | ||||||||
Truant | ✓ | ||||||||
Do homework | ✓* | ✓* | |||||||
Ability | ✓ average marks* | ✓ | ✓ GPA* | ✓ math/reading* | |||||
Cultural Capital | ✓ multifactor* | ||||||||
MOTHER
| |||||||||
Mother’s age at birth | ✓ | ||||||||
Homeland mother | ✓ | ||||||||
Retentions | ✓ | ||||||||
FATHER
| |||||||||
Father imprisonment | ✓* | ||||||||
Father alcoholism | ✓ | ||||||||
Father smokes | ✓ | ||||||||
Closeness to father | ✓ | ||||||||
Delinquency | ✓ | ||||||||
PARENTS
| |||||||||
SES | ✓* | ||||||||
Family income | ✓* | ✓* | |||||||
Parental education | ✓ attended uni* | ✓ | ✓ father college | ✓* | ✓* | ||||
Parental occupation | ✓ | ✓* | |||||||
Parental involvement | ✓ | ||||||||
Two parents | ✓* | ✓* | |||||||
Financial support | ✓* | ||||||||
Parent aspirations | ✓* |
PAPER | Davies et al. (2014) | Notten and Kraaykamp (2010) | Roos et al. (2013) | Witte and Rogge (2013) | Hagan and Foster (2012) | Stadelmann-Steffen (2011) | Lowman and Elliott (2010) | Tramonte and Willms (2010) | Van Doorn et al. (2011) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DEPENDENT VARIABLE | Attendance of university (0/1) | Educational attainment (0–10) | Educational achievement | Dropout from secondary school | Completed College | 2006 PISA math score | Students expectations | 2000 PISA reading score | Virtual yearsa |
SCHOOL
| |||||||||
School change | ✓ | ||||||||
Distance to school | ✓ | ||||||||
Social relations | ✓ multifactor | ✓ clubs/sport* | |||||||
School climate | ✓ multifactor* | ✓ opinions* | |||||||
Dropout programme | ✓* | ||||||||
College prep | ✓* | ||||||||
School track | ✓ vocational* | ||||||||
School avoidance | ✓* | ||||||||
Class unpreparedness | ✓ | ||||||||
STUDY STATISTICS
| |||||||||
Region | Canada | Netherlands | Canada | Netherlands | United States | Switzerland | United States | World | Europe |
Level 1 observations | 6420 | 3498 | 11,758 | 20,331 | 4745 | 17,200 | 10,892 | 159,095 | 76,821 |
Level 2 observations | 84 | 1332 | 9360 | 330 | 122 | 394 | 612 | 28 | 250 |
Level 3 observations | – | – | 1139 | – | – | 16 | – | – | |
Distribution | Logit | OLogit | Logit | MN-Logit | HGLM | Bayesian-ML | HLM | OLS | ML-OLS |
Fixed/random | Mixed | Random | Fixed | – | Fixed | Random | – | Stratified | Random |
Model | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 4 |
Table | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
Page | 44 | 460 | 401 | 140 | 16 | 385 | 103 | 208 | 109 |
Source | TDSB 2006 | FSDP 1998-2003 | MCHP 2008 | VOCL 2003 | NLSAH 2009 | PISA 2006 | ELS 2002 | PISA 2000 | ESS 2002-2006 |
Times citedb | 5 | 19 | 10 | 27 | 43 | 18 | 15 | 88 | 22 |
2.3 About Social Capital
2.4 Social Capital and Educational Success
2.5 Research Hypotheses
3 Method and Data
3.1 GSOEP
Observations | Average/percentage | Minimum | Maximum | |
---|---|---|---|---|
INDIVIDUAL
| ||||
Age | 4148 | 29.31 | 25 (28.72) | 35 (31.15)a |
Male | 4148 | 50% | 0 | 1 |
[0–1] Migration background | 4148 | 3.9% | 0 | 1 |
[1–5] Health | 4148 | 3.94 | 1 | 5 |
[1–10] Number of close friends | 4148 | 4.88 | 0 | 10 |
[1–4] Generalised trust | 4148 | 2.67 | 1 | 4 |
[1–4] Trust in strangers | 4148 | 1.78 | 1 | 4 |
[1–5] Volunteer work | 4148 | 1.66 | 1 | 5 |
[1–5] Lend money | 4148 | 2.30 | 1 | 5 |
FATHER
| ||||
[1–4] Education | 4148 | 2.87 | 1 | 4 |
Job: Employed full-time | 4148 | 74% | 0 | 1 |
Job: Employed part-time | 4148 | 2% | 0 | 1 |
Job: Other | 4148 | 2% | 0 | 1 |
Job: unemployed | 4148 | 22% | 0 | 1 |
[1–10] Number of close friends | 4148 | 4.05 | 0 | 10 |
[1–4] Generalised trust | 4148 | 2.64 | 1 | 4 |
[1–4] Trust in strangers | 4148 | 1.78 | 1 | 4 |
[1–5] Volunteer work | 4148 | 1.93 | 1 | 5 |
[1–5] Lend money | 4148 | 1.53 | 1 | 5 |
MOTHER
| ||||
[1–4] Education | 4148 | 2.73 | 1 | 4 |
Job: Employed full-time | 4148 | 27% | 0 | 1 |
Job: Employed part-time | 4148 | 35% | 0 | 1 |
Job: Other | 4148 | 8% | 0 | 1 |
Job: Unemployed | 4148 | 30% | 0 | 1 |
Age of mother at birth | 4148 | 23.60 | 15 | 48 |
[1–10] Number of close friends | 4148 | 4.21 | 0 | 10 |
[1–4] Generalised trust | 4148 | 2.70 | 1 | 4 |
[1–4] Trust in strangers | 4148 | 1.75 | 1 | 4 |
[1–5] Volunteer work | 4148 | 1.71 | 1 | 5 |
[1–5] Lend money | 4148 | 1.52 | 1 | 5 |
3.2 How to Measure Education
Own education | Father’s education | Mother’s education | Highest education | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Own education | 1 | |||
Father’s education | 0.91 | 1 | ||
Mother’s education | 0.54 | 0.56 | 1 | |
Highest education | 0.82 | 0.88 | 0.77 | 1 |
3.3 How to Measure Social Capital
3.4 Instrumental Variable Approach
4 Results
4.1 The State of Educational Mobility
4.2 Changes in Educational Mobility
4.3 Social Capital Inheritance
4.4 The Indirect Effect of Social Capital
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
EDUCATION | EDUCATION | EDUCATION | TRUST (2SLS) | EDU (2SLS) | |
INDIVIDUAL
| |||||
Age | − 0.028*** | 0.030** | 0.027** | 0.015* | 0.002 |
(0.006) | (0.013) | (0.013) | (0.008) | (0.002) | |
Gender: Male | − 0.027 | 0.103 | 0.108 | − 0.092 | 0.019 |
(Ref. female) | (0.057) | (0.101) | (0.102) | (0.063) | (0.012) |
[0–2] Migration background | − 0.640*** | 0.147 | 0.118 | − 0.176* | 0.018 |
(Recoded) | (0.118) | (0.194) | (0.193) | (0.101) | (0.022) |
[1–5] Health | 0.086** | 0.015 | 0.010 | 0.362*** | − 0.016* |
(0.035) | (0.062) | (0.062) | (0.039) | (0.009) | |
FATHER
| |||||
[1–4] Education | 4.941*** | 4.946*** | 0.025 | 0.882*** | |
(Recoded) | (0.100) | (0.101) | (0.041) | (0.008) | |
Job: Employed full-time | 0.231 | 0.218 | 0.067 | 0.035** | |
(Ref. unemployed) | (0.140) | (0.140) | (0.086) | (0.016) | |
Job: Employed part-time | − 0.004 | − 0.073 | − 0.145 | − 0.030 | |
(0.380) | (0.384) | (0.223) | (0.042) | ||
Job: Other | 0.393 | 0.400 | − 0.043 | 0.054 | |
(0.370) | (0.371) | (0.229) | (0.043) | ||
[1–10] Number of close friends | − 0.031 | − 0.014 | (Instruments) | ||
(0.021) | (0.013) | ||||
[1–4] Generalised trust | 0.063 | 0.426*** | (Instruments) | ||
(0.086) | (0.054) | ||||
[1–4] Trust in strangers | 0.052 | − 0.002 | (Instruments) | ||
(0.077) | (0.047) | ||||
[1–5] Volunteer work | 0.100** | 0.043 | (Instruments) | ||
(0.045) | (0.027) | ||||
[1–5] Lend money | 0.079 | 0.017 | (Instruments) | ||
(0.081) | (0.050) | ||||
MOTHER
| |||||
[1–4] Education | 0.357*** | 0.355*** | 0.002 | 0.054*** | |
(Recoded) | (0.064) | (0.065) | (0.040) | (0.007) | |
Job: Employed full-time | − 0.036 | − 0.076 | − 0.004 | − 0.005 | |
(Ref. unemployed) | (0.145) | (0.146) | (0.090) | (0.017) | |
Job: Employed part-time | − 0.090 | − 0.165 | − 0.043 | − 0.010 | |
(0.135) | (0.136) | (0.085) | (0.016) | ||
Job: Other | − 0.079 | − 0.114 | − 0.065 | − 0.015 | |
(0.199) | (0.200) | (0.125) | (0.024) | ||
Age of mother at birth | 0.031*** | 0.028*** | 0.013** | 0.003*** | |
(0.011) | (0.011) | (0.007) | (0.001) | ||
[1–10] Number of close friends | 0.016 | 0.011 | (Instruments) | ||
(0.021) | (0.013) | ||||
[1–4] Generalised trust | 0.152* | 0.432*** | (Instruments) | ||
(0.089) | (0.056) | ||||
[1–4] Trust in strangers | − 0.103 | 0.085* | (Instruments) | ||
(0.077) | (0.047) | ||||
[1–5] Volunteer work | − 0.017 | 0.065** | (Instruments) | ||
(0.051) | (0.031) | ||||
[1–5] Lend money | 0.160** | 0.029 | (Instruments) | ||
(0.080) | (0.050) | ||||
INSTRUMENTED
| |||||
\(\widehat{Trust}\)
| 0.118*** | ||||
(0.041) | |||||
Observations | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 |
Adjusted \(R^{2}\) | 0.00589 | 0.681 | 0.683 | 0.0457 | 0.837 |
Wu–Hausman F-statistic | 8.912*** | ||||
First stage F-statistic | 21.14*** | ||||
Sargan \(Chi^{2}\) | 20.75** |
(1.1) | (1.2) | (2.1) | (2.2) | (3.1) | (3.2) | (4.1) | (4.2) | (5.1) | (5.2) | (6) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FRDS | 2SLS | TRST | 2SLS | STGR | 2SLS | VLTR | 2SLS | MNY | 2SLS | 2SLS | |
INDIVIDUAL
| |||||||||||
Age | − 0.039*** | 0.004** | 0.015* | 0.002 | 0.029*** | 0.003* | 0.015* | 0.003** | − 0.060*** | 0.007*** | 0.005*** |
(0.007) | (0.002) | (0.008) | (0.002) | (0.008) | (0.002) | (0.009) | (0.001) | (0.007) | (0.002) | (0.002) | |
Gender: Male | 0.375*** | 0.012 | − 0.092 | 0.019 | 0.135** | 0.013 | 0.347*** | 0.005 | 0.262*** | − 0.000 | 0.007 |
(Ref. female) | (0.055) | (0.013) | (0.063) | (0.012) | (0.061) | (0.012) | (0.068) | (0.012) | (0.057) | (0.013) | (0.014) |
[0–2] Migration background | − 0.258*** | 0.016 | − 0.176* | 0.018 | 0.007 | 0.014 | − 0.076 | 0.017 | 0.042 | 0.005 | 0.007 |
(Recoded) | (0.089) | (0.022) | (0.101) | (0.022) | (0.102) | (0.021) | (0.122) | (0.022) | (0.096) | (0.022) | (0.023) |
[1–5] Health | 0.083** | − 0.002 | 0.362*** | − 0.016* | 0.184*** | − 0.004 | 0.004 | − 0.002 | − 0.075** | 0.004 | − 0.005 |
(0.034) | (0.007) | (0.039) | (0.009) | (0.038) | (0.007) | (0.042) | (0.007) | (0.036) | (0.008) | (0.010) | |
FATHER
| |||||||||||
[1–4] Education | 0.110*** | 0.885*** | 0.025 | 0.882*** | 0.141*** | 0.882*** | 0.046 | 0.883*** | 0.120*** | 0.876*** | 0.878*** |
(Recoded) | (0.036) | (0.008) | (0.041) | (0.008) | (0.040) | (0.008) | (0.044) | (0.008) | (0.038) | (0.008) | (0.009) |
Job: Employed full-time | − 0.109 | 0.042*** | 0.067 | 0.035** | 0.086 | 0.040** | 0.380*** | 0.034** | 0.156** | 0.030* | 0.022 |
(Ref. unemployed) | (0.077) | (0.016) | (0.086) | (0.016) | (0.085) | (0.016) | (0.098) | (0.016) | (0.079) | (0.017) | (0.017) |
Job: Employed part-time | − 0.222 | − 0.032 | − 0.145 | − 0.030 | 0.384* | − 0.039 | 0.155 | − 0.038 | 0.367* | − 0.053 | − 0.050 |
(0.193) | (0.042) | (0.223) | (0.042) | (0.215) | (0.042) | (0.237) | (0.042) | (0.210) | (0.043) | (0.045) | |
Job: Other | − 0.174 | 0.055 | − 0.043 | 0.054 | 0.205 | 0.049 | − 0.414 | 0.067 | 0.372* | 0.033 | 0.047 |
(0.203) | (0.042) | (0.229) | (0.043) | (0.227) | (0.042) | (0.294) | (0.043) | (0.205) | (0.044) | (0.046) | |
[1–10] Number of close friends | 0.073*** | − 0.014 | − 0.011 | 0.011 | − 0.002 | ||||||
(0.011) | (0.013) | (0.012) | (0.013) | (0.012) | |||||||
[1–4] Generalised trust | 0.029 | 0.426*** | 0.026 | − 0.038 | 0.029 | ||||||
(0.047) | (0.054) | (0.052) | (0.058) | (0.049) | |||||||
[1–4] Trust in strangers | 0.021 | − 0.002 | 0.387*** | 0.082 | 0.051 | ||||||
(0.041) | (0.047) | (0.046) | (0.050) | (0.043) | |||||||
[1–5] Volunteer work | 0.014 | 0.043 | 0.067** | 0.292*** | 0.045* | ||||||
(0.024) | (0.027) | (0.026) | (0.028) | (0.025) | |||||||
[1–5] Lend money | 0.048 | 0.017 | − 0.012 | − 0.016 | 0.234*** | ||||||
(0.044) | (0.050) | (0.048) | (0.054) | (0.045) | |||||||
MOTHER
| |||||||||||
[1–4] Education | 0.057 | 0.054*** | 0.002 | 0.054*** | 0.083** | 0.053*** | − 0.047 | 0.057*** | 0.046 | 0.051*** | 0.056*** |
(Recoded) | (0.035) | (0.007) | (0.040) | (0.007) | (0.039) | (0.007) | (0.043) | (0.007) | (0.036) | (0.008) | (0.008) |
Job: Employed full-time | 0.107 | − 0.005 | − 0.004 | − 0.005 | − 0.063 | − 0.005 | − 0.086 | − 0.003 | − 0.003 | − 0.008 | − 0.006 |
(Ref. unemployed) | (0.080) | (0.017) | (0.090) | (0.017) | (0.088) | (0.017) | (0.099) | (0.017) | (0.083) | (0.017) | (0.018) |
Job: Employed part-time | − 0.008 | − 0.007 | − 0.043 | − 0.010 | − 0.082 | − 0.008 | 0.080 | − 0.012 | − 0.001 | − 0.013 | − 0.018 |
(0.074) | (0.016) | (0.085) | (0.016) | (0.082) | (0.015) | (0.091) | (0.016) | (0.078) | (0.016) | (0.017) | |
Job: Other | 0.120 | − 0.015 | − 0.065 | − 0.015 | − 0.147 | − 0.014 | − 0.019 | − 0.020 | 0.222* | − 0.033 | − 0.033 |
(0.111) | (0.023) | (0.125) | (0.024) | (0.122) | (0.023) | (0.135) | (0.023) | (0.114) | (0.024) | (0.025) | |
Age of mother at birth | 0.006 | 0.004*** | 0.013** | 0.003*** | 0.016** | 0.004*** | 0.020*** | 0.004*** | 0.019*** | 0.003** | 0.002* |
(0.006) | (0.001) | (0.007) | (0.001) | (0.006) | (0.001) | (0.007) | (0.001) | (0.006) | (0.001) | (0.001) | |
[1–10] Number of close friends | 0.094*** | 0.011 | 0.017 | − 0.002 | 0.013 | ||||||
(0.012) | (0.013) | (0.013) | (0.014) | (0.012) | |||||||
[1–4] Generalised trust | − 0.009 | 0.432*** | 0.209*** | − 0.028 | 0.040 | ||||||
(0.049) | (0.056) | (0.054) | (0.061) | (0.051) | |||||||
[1–4] Trust in strangers | 0.070* | 0.085* | 0.495*** | 0.026 | 0.022 | ||||||
(0.041) | (0.047) | (0.047) | (0.050) | (0.043) | |||||||
[1–5] Volunteer work | 0.026 | 0.065** | 0.057* | 0.305*** | 0.059** | ||||||
(0.027) | (0.031) | (0.030) | (0.031) | (0.028) | |||||||
[1–5] Lend money | − 0.017 | 0.029 | − 0.025 | − 0.033 | 0.336*** | ||||||
(0.043) | (0.050) | (0.048) | (0.053) | (0.045) | |||||||
INSTRUMENTED
| |||||||||||
\(\widehat{Friends}\)
| 0.005 | − 0.011 | |||||||||
(0.009) | (0.010) | ||||||||||
\(\widehat{Trust}\)
| 0.118*** | 0.100* | |||||||||
(0.041) | (0.052) | ||||||||||
\(\widehat{Strangers}\)
| 0.043 | − 0.042 | |||||||||
(0.030) | (0.040) | ||||||||||
\(\widehat{Volunteer}\)
| 0.052*** | 0.035 | |||||||||
(0.019) | (0.022) | ||||||||||
\(\widehat{Money}\)
| 0.115*** | 0.101*** | |||||||||
(0.031) | (0.036) | ||||||||||
Observations | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 | 4148 |
Adjusted \(R^{2}\) | 0.0238 | 0.843 | 0.0457 | 0.837 | 0.0596 | 0.844 | 0.0495 | 0.840 | 0.0409 | 0.832 | 0.826 |
Wu–Hausman F-statistic | 0.380 | 8.912*** | 0.181 | 8.094*** | 12.46*** | 4.167*** | |||||
First stage F-statistic | 24.20*** | 21.14*** | 33.28*** | 34.35*** | 17.19*** | 11.77*** | |||||
Sargan \(Chi^{2}\) | 29.86*** | 20.75** | 28.25*** | 22.16*** | 14.12 | 6.600 |