Sofia Trommlerova - Research Summary

This study estimates upward educational spill-over effects of children’s education on their parents’ gender-related attitudes and behaviors. The identification strategy is based on an education reform that took place in Turkey in 1997 and that substantially expanded compulsory schooling from 5 to 8 years. We apply regression discontinuity design (RDD) based on monthly birth cohorts using 2008 Turkey DHS. Our results show that an increase in children’s education had effects on their mothers’ attitudes towards domestic violence and gender norms, with suggestive evidence that girls’ education was marginally more relevant than boys’. Conflict between parents also decreased but as a consequence of exclusively their daughters’ education. The main contribution of this paper consists in showing that the positive impact of schooling goes well beyond one’s own well-being or that of their peers (same-level spill-over effects) or children (downward spill-over effects). We show positive upward inter-generational spill-over effects of education. Furthermore, our results emphasize the importance of educating girls to the same extent as boys, and this for a sufficiently long period of time.

This is a joint work of Selim Gulesci, Erik Meyersson, and Sofia Trommlerová. The paper "The Effect of Girls’ Schooling on Their Mothers’ Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence: Evidence from Turkey" can be downloaded here.