How Interethnic Marriages Affect the Educational Attainment of Children: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

van Ours, Jan C.; Veenman, Justus

doi:10.1111/j.0042-7092.2007.00700.x

How Interethnic Marriages Affect the Educational Attainment of Children: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

IZA Working Paper No. 3308

31 Pages Posted: 23 May 2008

See all articles by Jan C. van Ours

Jan C. van Ours

Tilburg University - Department of Economics; University of Melbourne - Department of Economics

Justus Veenman

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Institute for Sociological and Economic Research; Tinbergen Institute

There are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 2008

Abstract

The allocation of Moluccan immigrants across towns and villages at arrival in the Netherlands and the subsequent formation of interethnic marriages resemble a natural experiment. The exogenous variation in marriage formation allows us to estimate the causal effect of interethnic marriages on the educational attainment of children from such marriages. We find that children from Moluccan fathers and native mothers have a higher educational attainment than children from ethnic homogeneous Moluccan couples or children from a Moluccan mother and a native father.

Keywords: interethnic marriages, educational attainment

JEL Classification: I21, J15

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

van Ours, Jan C. and Veenman, Justus, How Interethnic Marriages Affect the Educational Attainment of Children: Evidence from a Natural Experiment (January 2008). IZA Working Paper No. 3308, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1135884 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0042-7092.2007.00700.x