Skill Premia and Intergenerational Skill Transmission: The French Case

ECINEQ Working Paper No. 2013-285

26 Pages Posted: 9 Jun 2013

See all articles by Bassem Ben-Halima

Bassem Ben-Halima

University of Lille I - EQUIPPE

Nathalie Chusseau

University of Lille I - EQUIPPE; MESHS-CNRS

Joël Hellier

LEM-CNRS (UMR 9221)

Date Written: January 1, 2013

Abstract

In the case of France, we analyse the changes (i) in the skill premium linked to each level of education and (ii) in the impact of parents’ skill and income upon the educational attainment of their children. To this end, we build a theoretical model which is subsequently estimated. Our calculations firstly reveal (i) a critical decline in the skill premium of the Baccalaureate in relation to the lowest skill level, and (ii) an increase in the skill premia of higher education in relation to the Baccalaureate, which however is not large enough to avoid the decrease in all the skill premia relative to the lowest skill. Secondly, we find (i) a significant increase in the impact of the family backgrounds upon the individuals’ education from 1993 to 2003 which essentially derives from a higher impact of parental income upon the educational attainment, and (ii) an increase in the impact of public expenditure upon education. Consequently, if inequality has decreased among the employed population, the slowdown in intergenerational mobility could reverse this tendency in the longer term. This may however be offset by higher public educational expenditure.

Keywords: Family backgrounds, intergenerational mobility, return to education

JEL Classification: I2, J24, J31

Suggested Citation

Ben-Halima, Bassem and Chusseau, Nathalie and Hellier, Joël, Skill Premia and Intergenerational Skill Transmission: The French Case (January 1, 2013). ECINEQ Working Paper No. 2013-285, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2276448 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2276448

Bassem Ben-Halima

University of Lille I - EQUIPPE ( email )

Université Lille 1 Sciences et Technologies
Faculté des Sciences Economiques et Sociales
Villeneuve d'Ascq, 59655
France

Nathalie Chusseau (Contact Author)

University of Lille I - EQUIPPE ( email )

Université Lille 1 Sciences et Technologies
Faculté des Sciences Economiques et Sociales
Villeneuve d'Ascq, 59655
France

MESHS-CNRS ( email )

2 Rue des Canonniers
Lille, 59000
France

Joël Hellier

LEM-CNRS (UMR 9221) ( email )

104, avenue du peuple Belge
Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, 59655
France

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