nep-neu 2021-10-04 papers

on Neuroeconomics

Issue of 2021‒10‒04
two papers chosen by

Intergenerational educational mobility – the role of non-cognitive skills By Anna Adamecz-Völgyi; Morag Henderson; Nikki Shure
Maternal Age and Infant Health By Borra, Cristina; González, Libertad; Patiño, David

Intergenerational educational mobility – the role of non-cognitive skills

By:	Anna Adamecz-Völgyi (Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies (KRTK KRTI), Toth Kalman u. 4, 1097 Budapest and UCL Social Research Institute, University College London, 27 Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AA); Morag Henderson (UCL Social Research Institute, University College London, 27 Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AA); Nikki Shure (UCL Social Research Institute, University College London, 27 Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AA and Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 5-9, D-53113 Bonn.)
Abstract:	While it has been shown that university attendance is strongly predicted by parental education, we know very little about why some potential ‘first in family’ or first-generation students make it to university and others do not. This paper looks at the role of non-cognitive skills in the university participation of this disadvantaged group in England. We find that conditional on national, high-stakes exam scores and various measures of socioeconomic background, having higher levels of non-cognitive skills, specifically locus of control, academic self-concept, work ethic, and self-esteem, in adolescence is positively related to intergenerational educational mobility to university. Our results indicate that having higher non-cognitive skills helps potential first in family university students to compensate for their relative disadvantage, and they are especially crucial for boys. The most important channel of this relationship seems to be through educational attainment at the end of compulsory schoolig
Keywords:	socioeconomic gaps, intergenerational educational mobility, higher education, non-cognitive skills
JEL:	I24 J24
Date:	2021–09
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:2137&r=

Maternal Age and Infant Health

By:	Borra, Cristina; González, Libertad; Patiño, David
Abstract:	We study the effects of maternal age on infant health. Age at birth has been increasing for the past several decades in many countries, and correlations show that health at birth is worse for children born to older mothers. In order to identify causal effects, we exploit school entry cutoffs and the empirical finding that women who are older for their cohort in school tend to give birth later. In Spain, children born in December start school a year earlier than those born the following January, despite being essentially the same age. We show that as a result, January‐born women finish school later and are (several months) older when they marry and when they have their first child. We find no effect on educational attainment. We then compare the health at birth of the children of women born in January versus the previous December, using administrative, population‐level data, and following a regression discontinuity design. We find small and insignificant effects on average weight at birth, but the children of January‐born mothers are more likely to have very low birthweight. We interpret our results as suggestive of a causal effect of maternal age on infant health, concentrated in the left tail of the birthweight distribution, with older mothers more likely to give birth to (very) premature babies.
Keywords:	Maternal age, Infant health, School cohort
Date:	2021–09–30
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajt:wcinch:74847&r=

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