The well-being of children.

• Position: Assessing the influence of family background, race and income

The NBER's Program on the Wellbeing of Children met in Cambridge on April 17. Program Director Jonathan Gruber, also of MIT, organized the meeting, at which these papers were discussed:

Kevin Lang, Boston University, and Jay L. Zagorsky, Ohio State University, "Does Growing Up with a Parent Absent Really Hurt?"

Stephen Cameron, Columbia University, and James Heckman, NBER and University of Chicago, "Dynamics of Educational Attainment for Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites"

Thomas J. Kane, NBER and Harvard University, "Racial and Ethnic Preference in College Admissions"

Janet Currie, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles, and Jonathan Gruber, "The Technology of Birth: Health Insurance, Medical Intervention, and Infant Health" (NBER Working Paper No. 5985)

Sherry A. Glied, NBER and Columbia University, and A. Bowen Garrett, University of California, Berkeley, "The Effect of U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Sullivan v. Zebley on Child SSI and AFDC Enrollment: A Natural Experiment"

Gary Solon, University of Michigan; Marianne Page, University of California, Davis; and Greg J. Duncan, Northwestern University, "Correlation Between Neighboring Children in their Socioeconomic Status as Adults"

Children who grow up without one of their biological parents in the home do worse, on average, than other children. However, having a single parent is highly correlated with lots of other socioeconomic disadvantages. In their analysis, Lang and Zagorsky find little evidence that absence of a parent affects income or wealth. For men, father's presence has a notable impact on whether one marries. For women, mother's presence is most important for cognitive ability.

Cameron and Heckman present a careful accounting of the role of family background, family income, labor market opportunities, and college tuition in explaining educational differences among black, white, and Hispanic males. Three main conclusions emerge from their research: 1) family income and family background influence schooling choices beginning at early stages of schooling; 2) tuition levels explain nothing of the difference among black, white, and Hispanic college enrollment patterns; 3) family income and family background operate on schooling choices primarily through long-term influences and not through short-run restrictions in the credit market.

Kane uses data from the High School and Beyond survey of the class of 1982 to study the extent of racial preference at different types of four-year...