The Family Is Not a Safe Haven: Estimating and Explaining Differences between Siblings in Educational Outcomes

Michael Grätz, European University Institute

This paper analyses within-family inequality in educational outcomes in Germany. I provide estimates of the proportion of inequality which is produced within as compared to between families. Furthermore, I test which mechanisms bring about inequality between siblings using family fixed effects models. These mechanisms include birth order, gender, birth spacing, maternal age, and parental separation. Finally, I look at the interaction between these factors and social origin. I find that differences between siblings exist in lower and higher SES families to a similar degree. However, the effects on track attendance are more pronounced for lower SES families. This leads to the conclusion that the mechanisms which bring about inequalities between siblings do not differ between social classes but they are more consequential with respect to final educational attainment for lower SES families.