The impact of parental education on human capital

Education is at the heart of modern discussions about human capital, since it is it that provides the population with competencies that are in demand on the labor market. An important source of accumulation and growth of human capital is the parental family: adult children of more educated parents may have more opportunities both for accumulation and for the subsequent capitalization of knowledge and skills. The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of parents’ education on the human capital of their adult children. The assessment was made through a comparison of objective and subjective life results based on the absence/presence of higher education among the respondents’ parents. Data collection was carried out by a mixed method (n = 1261). The share of respondents with higher education is 36%; 14% of respondents have both parents with higher education; 34% have at least one parent. The groups were compared using contingency tables with the control of the significance of differences according to Pearson’s Chi-squared test. Indices of specific and total human capital are calculated on the basis of self-assessments. The index values were compared by the method of comparing the means with the control using the Fisher test (F). The results show that self-assessments of life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and social optimism differ significantly depending on the parents’ presence/absence of higher education. The total human capital of people from more educated families is statistically higher and demonstrates elasticity. Investing in the development of their children, more educated parents focus on building up their universal competence, rather than specific professional knowledge. The author concludes that there is a positive relationship between the human capital of adults and their parents’ education. Future research may focus on evaluating the impact of secondary professional education; identifying the factors of differences in returns to education between children from the same family; analysis of the features of human capital formation in families that differ in the nature of work.