On the Family Origins of Human Capital Formation: Evidence from Donor Children

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lundborg, Petter; Plug, Erik; Rasmussen, Astrid Wurtz
• 署名单位: Lund University; University of Amsterdam; Aarhus University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdae101
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 3245-3275
• 关键词: educational-level; ECONOMICS; adoption; environment; adjustment; registry; sample; danish; twins

摘要

We introduce a novel strategy to study the intergenerational transmission of human capital skills, net of genetic skill transfers. For this purpose, we use unique Danish data on children conceived through sperm and egg donation in in vitro fertilization treatments to estimate the relationship between child test scores and parental years of schooling. Because the assignment of donors is not selective, these parental schooling estimates allow for a causal nurture interpretation. Once we take account of genes, we find that only the education of mothers matters: the association between father's education and child test scores (in reading and math) is insignificant and practically zero, whereas the association between mother's education and child test scores (in reading, not in math) is significant and large, and as large as the association we estimate for mothers of non-donor children.