ESRA 2027 sessions by theme

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Session Details

Financial resources are an important dimension of social inequality, but wealth differs from income in its accumulation over time, its intergenerational transmission and the opportunities it can provide. While research on wealth and inequality has grown substantially, less is known about how family wealth shapes educational outcomes and competencies across the life course.

Family wealth encompasses a range of resources that may be relevant to children’s educational opportunities and development, including housing wealth, financial assets, liquid wealth, business wealth, debt and inherited wealth. These resources may operate through different mechanisms, such as parental investments, access to educational opportunities, living and learning environments, financial security and educational decisions. Moreover, relevant resources may extend beyond the household in which children live, for example through non-resident parents, grandparents or intergenerational transfers.

This session brings together research examining the relationship between family wealth, competencies and educational outcomes from early childhood through adolescence and into higher education and early adulthood. Contributions addressing different stages of the educational and developmental trajectory, as well as different forms and measures of family wealth, are particularly welcome. Research using survey, administrative or linked data and different approaches to measuring wealth is encouraged.

The session aims to foster an exchange on the current state of knowledge: When do wealth-related inequalities in competencies and educational outcomes emerge? Through which mechanisms do they develop? Which forms of family wealth matter, for whom and at which stages of the life course? How should wealth be measured to capture these processes? And where do important gaps in our knowledge remain?