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Investment in QualityThere is also a new awareness that social disadvantage in laterlife—such as periodic unemployment, social welfare dependency,poor health, conflict with the law—can frequently be traced back topoverty experienced in childhood and that educationalunderperformance is a major causal pathway. This grounds theconclusion: “those who begin life with insufficient schooling ormotivation to learn will, in a knowledge economy, in all probabilityface a difficult life course of low wages, poor training opportunitiesand precarious employment. Even well designed activation policiesare unlikely to correct this” (Esping-Andersen et al; 2001:20).BOX 8.1Parental Income and Children’s Educational AttainmentOne US longitudinal study had data on income and othervariables in the lives of 1,323 individuals from their infancy untilthey reached the ages of 20-24 (from the Michigan Panel Studyof Income Dynamics). The authors wished to establish whetherparental income varies in its significance in predicting a youngperson’s likelihood of completing schooling, depending on whenin the child/adolescent’s life span it was received.The variable to be explained was whether an individual hadcompleted secondary schooling or not. They were able todistinguish the average level of parental income in the person’shome during early childhood (ages 0-5), middle childhood (ages6-10), and adolescence (11-15). They controlled for the mother’sschooling, family structure, race, sex, and the age of the motherat the birth of her child.Average parental income during the ages 11-15 was statisticallysignificant in predicting the likelihood of completing secondaryschool (coefficient 0.06).Average parental income during the ages 0-15 was alsostatistically significant, and had an effect nearly twice as great(coefficient 0.11).378