Parental Income and School Attendance in a Low-Income Country: a semi-parametric analysis

Using data covering three successive generations of Malagasy people, we construct a new semi- parametric estimator of the effect of parental income on the decision to send children to school. We propose new tests of simultaneity and hereditary biases affecting the usual estimates of this effect. We reveal the importance of the first type of bias. Our estimates show that the existing literature underestimates the real effect of family resources on decisions as to whether or not to send children to school by not taking enough account of the simultaneity of income formation processes and schooling decisions.