Lecture of Economic Department Academic on June 4 by Professor Zhou Yexin: "Like Father, Like Son? A Study on the Intergenerational Transmission of Student Leadership Roles"

Lecture Topic:"Like Father, Like Son?" — A Study on the Intergenerational Transmission of Student Leadership Roles

Time:Wednesday, June 4, 2025, 14:00–15:30

Venue:Conference Room 1710, Houzhu Buildbying

Lecturer:Professor Zhou Yexin (BNU Business School)

Host:Associate Professor Xu Minbo (BNU Business School)

Abstract

This study explores the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of political capital in the early stages of the life cycle. Based on a survey covering over 3,300 samples, we find that parental experience as student leaders significantly increases the likelihood and rank of their children serving as student leaders, indicating a notable intergenerational transmission effect of student leadership roles. Causal mediation analysis reveals that this transmission relies not only on family economic capital but also on non-economic pathways such as family social capital and parental individual social capital. Additionally, parental experience as student leaders helps enhance their cognitive and non-cognitive abilities (human capital), thereby improving their occupational prestige and social status in adulthood, and indirectly influencing their children’s student leadership roles through this channel. Our research sheds light on how political capital is sustained through early identity accumulation, capability development, and intergenerational transmission in individual life courses, thereby reinforcing the reproduction and circulation of social status.

Biography of the Lecturer

Zhou Yexin (Male), born in 1974, is a Professor and PhD Supervisor at BNUBS. He holds a PhD in Economics from Peking University and has been a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford (UK), Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden), and Lund University (Sweden). He is a member of the Jiu San Society (a Chinese political party). His main research fields include social capital, education economics, labor economics, behavioral and experimental economics, innovation economics, and economic history.

He has won the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from Peking University and has presided over multiple national and provincial-level research projects, including General Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Projects of the National Social Science Fund of China. He has published two monographs and over thirty academic papers in journals such as Economic Research Journal, Management World, World Economy, China Economic Quarterly, European Economic Review, Social Choice and Welfare, and China Economic Review. He serves as an anonymous reviewer for SSCI/CSSCI journals including Economic Research Journal, Management World, China Economic Quarterly, World Economy, Regional Studies, China and World Economy, and Land Use Policy. He also acts as an evaluation expert for General and Youth Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and projects of the National Social Science Fund of China.