Abstract

Empirical studies have repeatedly shown a progressive reduction of educational inequalities by social class of origin in most European countries (Breen et al. 2009; Ballarino et al. 2008; Barone and Ruggera 2018). However, in most contributions, parental wealth has been largely overlooked as a specific and independent dimension of parental SES, and only a few contributions have investigated the variation of wealth gaps over time (Pfeffer 2018). This work aims to contribute to the literature in two main directions. First, it aims to provide an empirical assessment of trends in wealth gaps in Upper Secondary and Tertiary education over the last three decades in Italy. Second, it aims to assess whether and how these gaps have varied along different segments of the wealth distribution. Using the Historical Archive of the Household Survey on Income and Wealth (SHIW-HA), the paper analyses the variation of wealth gaps in upper secondary graduation rates for children born in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, and tertiary graduation rates for children born in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. Results show a progressive reduction of adjusted wealth gaps in upper secondary education. Compared to the ’70s birth cohort, an increase in upper secondary graduation rates is observed around the median of the wealth distribution for children born in the ’80s, followed by an increase occurring at the bottom for the ’90s birth cohort. Conversely, wealth gaps in tertiary attainment have persisted, if not increased. Between the ’60s and ’70s birth cohorts, wealth gaps in tertiary widened, following an increase in graduation rates that occurred exclusively at the top of the wealth distribution. Between the ’70s to the ’80s birth cohorts, tertiary graduation rates converged upwards, with a greater increase in the bottom half of the wealth distribution. The net balance between the ’60s and ’80s cohorts shows a slight increase in wealth gaps.