This paper uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to explore the impact of
housing on children's productivity through educational attainment and thro
ugh their housing choices as adults after they leave their parent's home. A
fter controlling for other factors that are normally hypothesized to affect
an individual's education and earnings, we find that the average child of
homeowners is significantly more likely to achieve a higher level of educat
ion and, thereby, a higher level of earnings. We also find that having cont
rolled for the factors traditionally thought to influence an individual's c
hoice of housing tenure, as well as other parental characteristics, the hou
sing tenure of parents plays a primary role in determining whether or not t
he child becomes a homeowner, (C) 1999 Academic Press.