The Maternal and Sibling Spillover Effects in Educational Attainment

This study rigorously examines educational spillovers within families using Inverse Prob- ability Weighted Regression Adjustment, Propensity Score Matching, and an innovative In- strumental Variable strategy. We find that children whose mothers have more than 12 years of schooling gain approximately 0.385 to 0.396 years of schooling, while younger siblings of firstborns with over 12 years of schooling gain 0.505 years. IV regressions further suggest that each additional year of maternal education leads to a 0.367-year increase in children’s schooling, and each additional year of firstborn’s education results in a 0.333-year gain for younger siblings. These results, robust across multiple estimation techniques, underscore the significant role of maternal and sibling education in shaping children’s outcomes. This study advances methodological approaches, enriches the literature on family influences in education, and offers new insights into the mechanisms driving educational attainment within families. JEL classification : I21, I25, J13, J24