Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America

Sibling similarity in income: A life course perspective

“…We find a high sibling similarity in accumulated income both in the early and in the later life course. The finding of a large stability of sibling similarity in income over the life course is at odds with predictions derived from the cumulative advantage model (DiPrete & Eirich, 2006), the idea that genetic influences increase over the life course (Plomin, 2018), and the notion of a larger role of random life events, the longer an individual is in the labor market (Jencks et al, 1972). Therefore, our findings provide no empirical support to these theories.…”

“…If individual characteristics, which are unrelated to family background, become more important over the life course, sibling similarity will decrease. This includes random life events that affect income, which Jencks et al (1972) referred to as "luck." Genetic differences between siblings may also become more influential over the life course (Plomin, 2018).…”

“…The resemblance of siblings is, however, a broader measure of the impact of family background on income than intergenerational correlations of parental and offspring income, as siblings share many observed and unobserved characteristics. 2 A number of studies have estimated sibling correlations in income (Björklund & Jäntti, 2020;Björklund, Eriksson, Jäntti, Raaum, & Österbacka, 2002;Björklund & Jäntti et al, 2012;Björklund, Jäntti, & Lindquist, 2009;Conley & Glauber, 2008;Conley, 2004Conley, , 2008Hauser & Peter, 1985;Hauser & William, 1986;Jencks et al, 1972Jencks et al, , 1979Mazumder, 2008Mazumder, , 2011Schnitzlein, 2014;Solon et al, 1991;Thaning & Hällsten, 2020;Wiborg & Hansen, 2018). These studies share, with the exceptions of Bingley and Cappellari (2019) and Hällsten and Thaning (2021), one shortcoming, which we address in this article: The studies measure income over a short number of years in mid-adulthood, for instance ten years (Björklund & Jäntti et al, 2012).…”

Heritability and Etiology: Heritability estimates can provide causally relevant information

“…A famous thought experiment from Jencks et al (1972) illustrates why large G-E covariation renders any causal interpretation of heritability unjustified. Imagine that there is a population in which children with red hair experience systematic discrimination, and they are denied access to education.…”

Aportes De La Investigación Para La Educación Media Superior

“…La investigación sobre Eficacia Escolar es, probablemente, una de las más proliferantes en el ámbito educativo (Chapman et al, 2016;Reynolds et al, 2014). Su primera fase germinó en respuesta a los estudios de y Jencks et al (1972), quienes afirmaban que la contribución de la escuela era insignificante en comparación con los efectos del contexto sobre el rendimiento de los estudiantes, es decir, la escuela no hacía diferencia. Aunque estas investigaciones fueron pioneras en el estudio de la igualdad de oportunidades, mediante el análisis de resultados estudiantiles y sus condiciones familiares, metodológicamente fueron fuertemente criticadas por no haber explicado la totalidad de la varianza y no haber considerado la estructura anidada de los datos, inherente al ámbito educativo (Álvarez-Sotomayor y Martínez-Cousinou, 2016).…”