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Education, Assets, And Intergenerational Well-Being: The Case Of Female Headed Families, Li-Chen Cheng, Deborah Page-Adams

Center for Social Development Research

This paper reports findings from an analysis of economic well-being among female headed households. Previous theoretical and empirical work in this area suggests that poverty among female headed families is to some extent an intergenerational process, a vicious cycle. One common explanation for this pattern is that low socioeconomic status in a woman’s family of origin results in low educational attainment and, ultimately, in low earning capacity. However, an exclusive focus on education may overlook the long term dynamics of the household as an institution that can accumulate assets to enhance economic well-being across generations. Using data from the National …