Family characteristics and the returns to schooling: Evidence on gender differences from a sample of Australian twins

Data from the Australian Twins Survey are analysed in order to compare the relative importance of the role of family background as a mediating influence on the relationship between schooling and income for males and females. The analysis reveals that family background is a considerably greater influence on males than on females. This finding is consistent with a greater screening role for education in the case of females and with a process of intergenerational transmission of inequality for males but not for females