THE EFFECT OF COHORT COMPOSITION ON HUMAN-CAPITAL ACCUMULATION ACROSSGENERATIONS

This article develops analytic links between cohort composition and hu man capital accumulation across generations. By focusing on cohort com position rather than cohort size, it offers new links between demograp hic change and economic outcomes. The model shows that changes in the educational attainment of parents and changes in relative fertility ra tes between educational classes affect human capital accumulation of t he next generation. The main prediction of the model, of a negative be havioral feedback, is shown to be consistent with data on the probabil ity of attending college for men born between 1927 and 1962.