How to escape poverty through education?: Intergenerational evidence in Spain

Abstract

This paper analyzes the determinants of escaping poverty through education in Spain, with this being the country that, according to Eurostat (2010), is among the top European countries regarding the percentage of the population affected by poverty. Specifically, the paper studies the transmission of poverty over two generations by analyzing the factors that affect the probability of having completed the secondary level of education. To that end, we use the conceptual Quantity-Quality model of Becker-Lewis, empirically estimated by using the Survey of Living Conditions (2011) provided by the Spanish Statistical Institute. Our results confirm the intergenerational transmission of poverty in Spain, in such a way that the probability that the respondent has completed secondary education is determined, although not exclusively, by the family conditions of the respondents during their teenage years