Is schooling a family thing? Effects of grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters on the school choices of boys and girls

There are various ways in which the family affects individual schooling decisions. To address these family forces at work, this paper asks whether parental human capital and parental income have distinct positive impacts on the childrens human capital formation. Estimates are presented that control for ability transmissions across generations using observed ability measures and the human capital of grandparents. Using the Dutch Brabant survey, I find that the human capital formation of boys is largely due to parental human capital transmissions. For girls I find that both parental human capital and parental income matters. These findings suggest credit market imperfections restrict the schooling decisions for girls.