Effects of the family background on offspring’s income through the educational mediation

Abstract

This paper focuses on the indirect effect of parents’ income on their offspring’s income through the mediation of their education. It is verified that the effect of parents’ income through their offspring’s education is positive, with the highest impacts for the daughters in the upper income strata. The mediation effect of education increases with parental income levels, with the greatest effects for daughters. These results corroborate the premise that Brazil presents a low level of intergenerational income mobility. Therefore, the family background affects directly the offspring’s education, providing them with higher levels of income.