Multigenerational education mobility in Europe: Exploring the mechanism

Abstract

We analyze the transmission process of education in a three-generation setting. We employ mediation analyses to quantify the mediating factors (and their mutual interactions) that may potentially explain the relationship between the educational attainment of grandparents and grandchildren. Using this approach, we analyze how assumptions about interactions between generations are important for estimating persistence across generations. In our preferred specification, allowing for indirect effects, the socioeconomic status of grandparents explains about one-third-of the transmission of education between grandparents and grandchildren, and almost sixty percent is explained by the education of parents. Focusing on cross-country and within-country differences across time, we show possible influences of social and institutional settings on multigenerational transmission. We specifically examine a unique transition process from centrally planned to market economy and provide evidence for changes in multigenerational persistence in education within countries over time. In line with current literature, our results point to the "long memory" of education inequalities.