Do Family Policies Matter for Educational Outcomes? Patterns of educational mobility and family services in Europe

Abstract:

The aim of this article is to shed some light on the impact of family policies on educational mobility; this link has been often debated, but rarely measured. Another aim of this contribution is to build a bridge between social mobility research and social policy analysis. We investigate whether the level of expenditure on family services in the 1980s and 1990s has had a positive impact on educational achievements and mobility in 11 European countries, by closely looking at a cohort of young adults aged 25–35. To this end, multilevel logistic regression models that control for other policies that have an impact on educational mobility are presented; fixed effects models are also provided. Our results suggest that, in terms of the likelihood of going to university, these policies seem to have reduced the gap between individuals whose parents are well educated, and those who have a more modest background.