Riesco - Resilience and savings for education in the post-Covid period
Numerous studies have highlighted that in Italy, as in other countries, the economic conditions of the family of origin significantly influence the likelihood of children achieving higher levels of education. One aspect that has been relatively unexplored is how families of different socioeconomic backgrounds plan and manage expenses for their children’s education. These strategies may involve using their own resources, resorting to loans, participating in support programs such as scholarships, or initiating savings programs. Regarding this latter aspect, i.e. savings, it is known that economically disadvantaged families often exhibit a strong present orientation and therefore have a low propensity to save for long-term investments, such as their children’s education. This can widen the gap between families in the resources allocated to education, creating a spiral of intergenerational transmission of inequality.
The project
The project aims to investigate the relationship between family financial well-being and the strategies that families employ to finance their children’s education. The project is structured around three main lines of activity. The first involves an integrated analysis of multiple microdata sets aimed at exploring variations among geographical areas, socioeconomic groups, and pre/post-Covid periods in the strategies families use to finance their children’s education. The second line of activity involves conducting a questionnaire focused on intertemporal choices and saving behaviors among a sample of low-income families, whether or not they have been assigned to two savings programs for education (Percorsi and WILL), in four different geographical areas (Turin, Teramo, Florence, Southern Sardinia). The third line of activity entails conducting in-depth interviews with participants in these incentivized savings programs.
The research is still ongoing, and results are not available at the moment.
Resilienza e risparmi per la scuola nel post-Covid (Riesco) is funded by Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca (“Fondo per la ricerca in campo economico e sociale”).
