Breaking the cycle? The effect of education on welfare receipt among children of welfare recipients

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Coelli, Michael B.; Green, David A.; Warburton, William P.
• 署名单位: University of British Columbia; University of Melbourne; University of London; University College London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of British Columbia
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2007.02.001
• 发表日期: 2007
• 页码: 1369-1398
• 关键词: Welfare; education; treatment effects

摘要

We examine the impact of high school graduation on the probability individuals from welfare backgrounds use welfare themselves. Our data consist of administrative educational records for grade 12 students in a Canadian province linked with their own and their parents' welfare records. We address potential endogeneity problems by: 1) controlling for ability using past test scores; 2) using an instrument for graduation based on school principal fixed effects; and 3) using a Heckman-Singer type unobserved heterogeneity estimator. Graduation would reduce the probability of welfare receipt of drop-outs by 1/2 to 3/4. Effects are larger for individuals from troubled family backgrounds and low income neighbourhoods. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.