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 mediati ng influence on the relationship between schooling and income for male s and females. The analysis reveals that family background is a consid erably greater influence on males than on females. This finding is con sistent with a greater screening role for education in the case of fem ales and with a process of intergenerational transmission of inequalit y for males but not for females.