The educational attainment of the children of stay-at-home mothers: evidence from the Irish Marriage Bar

Mosca, I., O'Sullivan, V. and Wright, R. E. (2021) The educational attainment of the children of stay-at-home mothers: evidence from the Irish Marriage Bar. Oxford Economic Papers, 73(2), pp. 534-560. (doi: 10.1093/oep/gpaa031)

Abstract

The relationship between maternal employment and the educational attainment of children is examined using data from the third wave of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing. Because maternal employment is potentially endogenous with respect to child educational attainment, instrumental variable estimation is used. In this analysis, two sets of instruments are used based on whether the mother’s employment was affected by the Marriage Bar that was in place at that time in Ireland. A Marriage Bar is the requirement that women in certain jobs must leave that job when they marry. It is found that the probability that a child completes university is 1–3 percentage points lower for each additional year of maternal employment during the first 18 years of the child’s life.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Wright, Dr Robert
• Authors: Mosca, I., O'Sullivan, V., and Wright, R. E.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Economics
• Journal Name: Oxford Economic Papers
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• ISSN: 0030-7653
• ISSN (Online): 1464-3812
• Published Online: 26 August 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 Oxford University Press
• First Published: First published in Oxford Economic Papers 73(2): 534-560
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher