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Discussion Paper Details

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Title: The Role of Social Networks and Peer Effects in Education Transmission

Author(s): Sebastian Bervoets, Antoni Calvó-Armengol and Yves Zenou

Publication Date: April 2012

Keyword(s): education, intergenerational correlation, Social mobility and strong and weak ties

Programme Area(s): Labour Economics and Public Economics

Abstract: We propose a dynastic model in which individuals are born in an educated or uneducated environment that they inherit from their parents. We study the role of social networks on the correlation in the parent-child educational status independent of any parent-child interaction. We show that the network reduces the intergenerational correlation, promotes social mobility and increases the average education level in the population. We also show that a planner that encourages social mobility also reduces social welfare, hence facing a trade off between these two objectives. When individuals choose the optimal level of social mobility, those born in an uneducated environment always want to leave their environment while the reverse occurs for individuals born in an educated environment.

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Bibliographic Reference

Bervoets, S, Calvó-Armengol, A and Zenou, Y. 2012. 'The Role of Social Networks and Peer Effects in Education Transmission'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=8932