An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Downward Income Shocks on the Widening of Intergenerational Economic Inequality through Educational Investment

2024 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K01512
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 07040:Economic policy-related
• Research Institution: Meijo University (2022-2024); Nagoya Keizai University (2021)
• Principal Investigator: SATO Sumie 名城大学, 法学部, 准教授 (70623388)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 野村 友和 大阪経済大学, 情報社会学部, 准教授 (30507207) ; 堀江 進也 尾道市立大学, 経済情報学部, 教授 (50633468)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2025-03-31
• Keywords: 外生的ショック / 教育投資 / 世代間格差 / 学歴達成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study empirically examines the impact of exogenous shocks on the attainment of a university degree by designing and conducting an original survey and applying econometric methods. The analysis reveals that when parents have a high school education, experiencing such shocks significantly reduces the likelihood of their children graduating from university. In contrast, for households where parents hold a university degree or higher, the same shocks do not have a statistically significant effect on graduation rates. This suggests that families with higher educational backgrounds may provide more stable support for education, thus mitigating the effects of external shocks. Additionally, in households where parents have less than a high school education, the results imply a generally lower aspiration for higher education.

Free Research Field

教育経済学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の学術的意義は、従来の教育投資や格差の研究が仮定してきた「家計の経済的環境は所与である」という前提を見直し、外生的ショックという予期せぬ変化が家計の教育投資行動に与える影響を実証的に示した点にある。
また、社会的意義としては、災害や家庭問題といった外部要因が、もともと不利な社会経済的地位にある家庭の教育投資をさらに抑制しうるという構造的問題を可視化した点にある。これは、教育格差の是正や災害被災世帯への支援政策を検討するうえで重要な実証的知見であり、将来的な貧困の再生産を抑止する観点からも有効な政策設計の基盤となる。