Share the love: Parental bias, women empowerment and intergenerational mobility

Abstract

This study provides empirical evidence and develops a model that captures the complex intra-household bargaining interactions and gender-based intergenerational occupational mobility. Using panel data from Nigeria, our estimates show that greater intra-household female bargaining power leads to greater intergenerational occupational mobility for sons more than daughters. Similarly, the median age at first marriage has a positive impact on occupational mobility for both daughters and sons. However, benefit is larger for sons. In the model, parental gender bias is modeled as non-pecuniary (psychic) cost – a representation of parents’ pessimistic attitude towards their children’s adulthood outcomes – which negatively affects the marginal benefit of investing in children’s human capital. The decision of parents is critical in determining children’s mobility and becomes the basis of gender-based differences in human capital investment and intergenerational persistence.