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Aaronson, Daniel and Bhashkar Mazumder (2008).
Intergenerational Economic Mobility in the United States, 1940 to 2000.
In: Journal of Human Resources
43(1)
, 139-172
.
Abstract.
Link.
We estimate trends in intergenerational economic mobility by matching men in the Census to synthetic parents in the prior generation. We find that mobility increased from 1950 to 1980 but has declined sharply since 1980. While our estimator places greater weight on location effects than the standard intergenerational coefficient, the size of the bias appears to be small. Our preferred results suggest that earnings are regressing to the mean more slowly now than at any time since World War II, causing economic differences between families to become more persistent. However, current rates of positional mobility appear historically normal. [close]
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Ammermueller, Andreas (2013).
Institutional Features of Schooling Systems and Educational Inequality: Cross-Country Evidence from PIRLS and PISA.
In: German Economic Review
14(2)
, 190-213
.
Abstract.
Link.
Educational opportunities determine the intergenerational mobility of human capital and affect the distribution of earnings on the labour market. This paper aims at explaining cross-country differences in educational opportunities by features of schooling systems. The theoretical model predicts that a greater differentiation of the schooling system as indicated by streaming and a large share of private schools decreases educational opportunities while more instruction time increases educational opportunities. The empirical results that are based on a difference-in-differences estimation approach to control for country-specific effects support these hypotheses. [close]
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Bauer, Philipp C. and Regina T. Riphahn (2013).
Institutional Determinants of Intergenerational Education Transmission - Comparing Alternative Mechanisms for Natives and Immigrants.
In: Labour Economics
25
, 110-122
.
Abstract.
Link.
We use census data on 26 Swiss cantons to determine the association of educational institutions with the intergenerational transmission of education. We test whether education transmission is higher when children enter kindergarten and school earlier and when tracking occurs at a later age. In contrast to the literature we consider the three institutions jointly. Our results generally confirm the expected correlation patterns. Among second generation immigrants, the age at enrollment in kindergarten is most closely associated with educational mobility. Among natives, late tracking is most strongly and positively associated with educational mobility. Our results are robust to various alternative specifications. [close]
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Bauer, Philipp and Regina T. Riphahn (2006).
Timing of School Tracking as a Determinant of Intergenerational Transmission of Education.
In: Economics Letters
91(1)
, 90-97
.
Abstract.
Link.
We test with Swiss data whether intergenerational educational mobility is affected by the time at which pupils are first streamed in secondary school. Late tracking significantly affects mobility and reduces the relative advantage of children of better educated parents. [close]
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Björklund, Anders and Markus Jäntti (1997).
Intergenerational Income Mobility in Sweden Compared to the United States.
In: American Economic Review
87(5)
, 1009-1018
.
Link.
[close]
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Björklund, Anders, Mikael Lindahl and Erik Plug (2006).
The Origins of Intergenerational Associations: Lessons from Swedish Adoption Data.
In: Quarterly Journal of Economics
121(3)
, 999-1028
.
Abstract.
Link.
We use unique Swedish data with information on adopted children's biological and adoptive parents to estimate intergenerational mobility associations in earnings and education. We argue that the impact from biological parents captures broad prebirth factors, including genes and prenatal environment, and the impact from adoptive parents represents broad postbirth factors, such as childhood environment. We find that both pre- and postbirth factors contribute to intergenerational earnings and education transmissions, and that prebirth factors are more important for mother's education and less important for father's income. We also find some evidence for a positive interaction effect between postbirth environment and prebirth factors. [close]
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Björklund, Anders, Per-Anders Edin, Peter Fredriksson and Alan Krueger (2004).
Education, Equality and Efficiency: An Analysis of Swedish School Reforms during the 1990s.
IFAU Report 2004:1.
Abstract.
Link.
The Swedish school system is in crises. That is often the impression one has gotten from Swedish media reports about education policy in the last 10-15 years. During the same period the Swedish school system has undergone rapid changes. This notion of a school system in severe crises is the starting point for this report. We will examine Swedish education policy with special focus on the turbulent reform period during the 1990s. We focus on two very established goals for education policy: equality and efficiency. Ever since the early introduction of the compulsory school in 1842, egalitarian goals have been important ones in Swedish education policy. A reading of a more recent policy document by the present government – see Regeringens skrivelse 2001/02: 188 – reveals that even the egalitarian goals for education policy are multifaceted. In general, though, one can distinguish between two main egalitarian goals, namely equality of outcomes and equality of opportunity. The ambition to influence the distribution of outcomes, e.g., cognitive skills, has been evident in many ways. First of all, the compulsory schooling system has gradually become more comprehensive so that all pupils are kept together in one class with a similar curriculum. Further, extra resources have been allocated to pupils with special needs, such as handicapped pupils and immigrant children. The ambition to equalize opportunities has generally been interpreted as an ambition to reduce the importance of pupils’ family background for their subsequent educational attainment. In fact, in their thorough report to government Erikson and Jonsson (1993) note that politicians have also stressed efficiency arguments in favor of a policy that may weaken the direct link between family background and educational attainment. One popular expression has been to “mobilize the reserve of talents” among children with a family background without educational tradition. Economists would rather talk about policies that eliminate “credit constraints” that low-income families face when their children are contemplating longer education. Through the 1980s, Sweden appeared to have been quite successful in terms of overall economic equality. At least according to readily available measures like hourly wages and annual disposable household income, Sweden generally ranked high in cross-country comparisons of equality.1 Comparisons of equality based on long-run measures of earnings and income are more complicated, but the available evidence suggests the same cross-country patterns as found in point-in-time data.2 However, education policy’s contribution to these egalitarian outcomes is more of an unsettled issue. The period since 1990 has been turbulent in many respects. At the macroeconomic level, the decade started with the most severe economic downturn since the 1930s. Unemployment rose from two percent to almost ten percent in just three years. As a consequence, public budgets deteriorated when tax revenue fell and expenditures to support the unemployed rose. Before the end of the decade, these deficits had been eliminated, partly by reductions of expenditures that also affected Swedish schools. During the 1990s, Sweden also implemented “the tax reform of the century”3, entered the European Union, settled successfully for low inflation, and deregulated many markets. Further, both hourly earnings and disposable income inequality started to rise. The 1990s was a turbulent decade for Swedish education policy too. Although, some policy initiatives, like an expansion of adult “second-chance” education, were motivated by traditional egalitarian arguments, many changes occurred that were unexpected for those who followed the Swedish discussion during previous decades. Education policy is our focus in this report. Before we summarize the reforms in Swedish education policy during the 1990s, we offer a brief description of the Swedish schooling system around 1990. [close]
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Black, Sandra E., Paul J. Devereux (2011).
Recent Developments in Intergenerational Mobility.
In: Ashenfelter, Orley and David Card (eds.).
Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. 4, Part B.
Amsterdam:
North Holland
, 1487-1541
.
Link.
[close]
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Black, Sandra E., Paul J. Devereux and Kjell G. Salvanes (2009).
Like father, like son? A note on the intergenerational transmission of IQ scores.
In: Economics Letters
105(1)
, 138-140
.
Abstract.
Link.
Using a large population-based dataset, we estimate a substantial intergenerational transmission of IQ scores; a 10% increase in father's score at age 18 is associated with a 3.2% increase in son's score. This relationship also holds true for various subpopulations. [close]
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Black, Sandra, Paul Devereux and Kjell G. Salvanes (2005).
Why the Apple Doesn't Fall Far: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital.
In: American Economic Review
95(1)
, 437-449
.
Abstract.
Link.
Parents with higher education levels have children with higher education levels. However, is this because parental education actually changes the outcomes of children, suggesting an important spillover of education policies, or is it merely that more able individuals who have higher education also have more able children? This paper proposes to answer this question by using a unique dataset from Norway. Using the reform of the education system that was implemented in different municipalities at different times in the 1960s as an instrument for parental education, we find little evidence of a causal relationship between parents’ education and children’s education, despite significant OLS relationships. We find 2SLS estimates that are consistently lower than the OLS estimates with the only statistically significant effect being a positive relationship between mother's education and son's education. These findings suggest that the high correlations between parents’ and children’s education are due primarily to selection and not causation. [close]
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Black, Sandra, Paul J. Devereux and Kjell G. Salvanes (2007).
From the Cradle to the Labor Market? The Effect of Birth Weight on Adult Outcomes.
In: Quarterly Journal of Economics
122(1)
, 409-439
.
Abstract.
Link.
Lower birth weight babies have worse outcomes, both short-run in terms of one-year mortality rates and longer run in terms of educational attainment and earnings. However, recent research has called into question whether birth weight itself is important or whether it simply reflects other hard-to-measure characteristics. By applying within twin techniques using an unusually rich dataset from Norway, we examine the effects of birth weight on both short-run and long-run outcomes for the same cohorts. We find that birth weight does matter; despite short-run twin fixed effects estimates that are much smaller than OLS estimates, the effects on longer-run outcomes such as adult height, IQ, earnings, and education are significant and similar in magnitude to OLS estimates. [close]
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Blanden, Jo (2013).
Cross-national rankings of intergenerational mobility: a comparison of approaches from economics and sociology.
In: Journal of Economic Surveys
27(1)
, 38-73
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper summarizes research on the relative level of intergenerational mobility – whether classified by income, education or social class. The literatures on education and income mobility reveal a similar ranking with South America, other developing nations, southern European countries and France tending to have rather limited mobility although the Nordic countries exhibit strong mobility. Estimates of mobility based on social class point to rather different patterns, and we demonstrate that these differences are most likely generated by intergenerational earnings persistence within social classes. The second part of the paper looks for explanations for the differences in earnings and education persistence and finds that mobility is negatively correlated with inequality and the return to education but positively correlated with a nation's education spending. [close]
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Bleakley, Hoyt and Aimee Chin (2008).
What Holds Back the Second Generation? The Intergenerational Transmission of Language Human Capital Among Immigrants.
In: Journal of Human Resources
43(2)
, 267-298
.
Abstract.
Link.
In 2000 Census microdata, various outcomes of second-generation immigrants are related to their parents’ age at arrival in the United States, and in particular whether that age fell within the "critical period" of language acquisition. We interpret this as an effect of the parents’ English-language skills and construct an instrumental variable for parental English proficiency. Estimates of the effect of parents’ English-speaking proficiency using two-stage least squares yield significant, positive results for children’s English-speaking proficiency and preschool attendance, and significant, negative results for dropping out of high school and being below age-appropriate grade. [close]
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Casey, Teresa and Christian Dustman (2008).
Intergenerational Transmission of Language Capital and Economic Outcomes.
In: Journal of Human Resources
43(3)
, 660-687
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper investigates the intergenerational transmission of language capital among immigrants, and the effect of language deficiencies on the economic performance of second-generation immigrants. Using a long panel that oversamples immigrants, we can follow their children after they have left the parental home. Our results show a sizeable significant association between parents’ and children’s fluency, conditional on parental and family characteristics. We find that language deficiencies of the second generation are associated with poorer labor market outcomes for females only. Finally, we find a strong relationship between parental fluency and female labor market outcomes, which works through the child’s language proficiency. [close]
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Chadwick, Laura and Gary Solon (2002).
Intergenerational Income Mobility Among Daughters.
In: American Economic Review
92(1)
, 335-344
.
Link.
[close]
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Checchi, Daniele, Andrea Ichino and Aldo Rustichini (1999).
More Equal But Less Mobile? Education Financing and Intergenerational Mobility in Italy and in the US.
In: Journal of Public Economics
74(3)
, 351-393
.
Abstract.
Link.
A centralised and egalitarian school system reduces the cost of education for poor families, and so it should reduce income inequality and make intergenerational mobility easier. In this paper we provide evidence that Italy, compared to the USA, displays less income inequality, as expected given the type of school system, but also less intergenerational upward mobility between occupations and between education levels. We explore some of the reasons which can explain this puzzling result and conclude that in a world in which family background is important for labor market success, a centralised and egalitarian tertiary education does not necessarily help poor children and may take away from them a fundamental tool to prove their talent and to compete with rich children. [close]
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Chetty, Raj, Nathaniel Hendren and Lawrence F. Katz (2016).
The Effects of Exposure to Better Neighborhoods on Children: New Evidence from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment.
In: American Economic Review
106(4)
, 855-902
.
Abstract.
Link.
The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment offered randomly selected families housing vouchers to move from high-poverty housing projects to lower-poverty neighborhoods. We analyze MTO's impacts on children's long-term outcomes using tax data. We find that moving to a lower-poverty neighborhood when young (before age 13) increases college attendance and earnings and reduces single parenthood rates. Moving as an adolescent has slightly negative impacts, perhaps because of disruption effects. The decline in the gains from moving with the age when children move suggests that the duration of exposure to better environments during childhood is an important determinant of children's long-term outcomes. [close]
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Corak, Miles (2013).
Income Inequality, Equality of Opportunity, and Intergenerational Mobility.
In: Journal of Economic Perspectives
27(3)
, 79-102
.
Abstract.
Link.
My focus is on the degree to which increasing inequality in the high-income countries, particularly in the United States, is likely to limit economic mobility for the next generation of young adults. I discuss the underlying drivers of opportunity that generate the relationship between inequality and intergenerational mobility. The goal is to explain why America differs from other countries, how intergenerational mobility will change in an era of higher inequality, and how the process is different for the top 1 percent. I begin by presenting evidence that countries with more inequality at one point in time also experience less earnings mobility across the generations, a relationship that has been called "The Great Gatsby Curve." The interaction between families, labor markets, and public policies all structure a child's opportunities and determine the extent to which adult earnings are related to family background -- but they do so in different ways across national contexts. Both cross-country comparisons and the underlying trends suggest that these drivers are all configured most likely to lower, or at least not raise, the degree of intergenerational earnings mobility for the next generation of Americans coming of age in a more polarized labor market. This trend will likely continue unless there are changes in public policy that promote the human capital of children in a way that offers relatively greater benefits to the relatively disadvantaged. [close]
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Cunha, Flavio and James J. Heckman (2008).
Formulating, Identifying and Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation.
In: Journal of Human Resources
43(4)
, 738-782
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper estimates models of the evolution of cognitive and noncognitive skills and explores the role of family environments in shaping these skills at different stages of the life cycle of the child. Central to this analysis is identification of the technology of skill formation. We estimate a dynamic factor model to solve the problem of endogeneity of inputs and multiplicity of inputs relative to instruments. We identify the scale of the factors by estimating their effects on adult outcomes. In this fashion we avoid reliance on test scores and changes in test scores that have no natural metric. Parental investments are generally more effective in raising noncognitive skills. Noncognitive skills promote the formation of cognitive skills but, in most specifications of our model, cognitive skills do not promote the formation of noncognitive skills. Parental inputs have different effects at different stages of the child’s life cycle with cognitive skills affected more at early ages and noncognitive skills affected more at later ages. [close]
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Dearden, Lorraine, Stephen Machin and Howard Reed (1997).
Intergenerational Mobility in Britain.
In: Economic Journal
107(1)
, 47-66
.
Abstract.
Link.
The prediction approach proposed by Dearden, Machin and Reed (DMR) consists in (1) regressing the observed incomes of the child and parent families on separate sets of predetermined variables, and (2) regressing the child's predicted income on that of the parents. Conceptually, this estimator must relate to the 2SLS/IV estimator. We re-derive the prediction estimator in matrix form, and reconsider its consistency requirements. The measurement model of DMR is then embedded within a simultaneous equations framework, for which an alternative 2SLS/IV estimator is proposed. The latter produces larger estimates for the intergenerational correlation. The policy relevance of the two sets of findings are then discussed. [close]
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Del Rey, Elena and María Racionero (2002).
Optimal educational choice and redistribution when parental education matters.
In: Oxford Economic Papers
54(3)
, 435-448
.
Abstract.
Link.
Higher education plays an important role in determining lifetime earnings. In turn, the decision to become educated depends to a large extent on family characteristics, such as wealth and education. In this paper, we focus on the interaction between fiscal policies and educational choices when parental education matters. We derive optimality conditions for a linear income tax and a lump‐sum subsidy for education in a dynamic framework in which generations are linked by educational background. The factors that determine their sign and magnitude include concerns for redistribution, efficiency, and the educational externality on future generations. [close]
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Doyle, Joseph. J. Jr. (2008).
Child Protection and Adult Crime: Using Investigator Assignment to Estimate Causal Effects of Foster Care.
In: Journal of Political Economy
116(4)
, 746-770
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper uses the randomization of families to child protection investigators to estimate causal effects of foster care on adult crime. The analysis uses a new data set that links criminal justice data to child protection data in Illinois, and I find that investigators affect foster care placement. Children on the margin of placement are found to be two to three times more likely to enter the criminal justice system as adults if they were placed in foster care. One innovation describes the types of children on the margin of placement, a group that is more likely to include African Americans, girls, and young adolescents. [close]
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Doyle, Joseph. J. Jr. (2007).
Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care.
In: American Economic Review
97(5)
, 1583-1610
.
Abstract.
Link.
Little is known about the effects of placing children who are abused or neglected into foster care. This paper uses the placement tendency of child protection investigators as an instrumental variable to identify causal effects of foster care on long-term outcomes—including juvenile delinquency, teen motherhood, and employment—among children in Illinois where a rotational assignment process effectively randomizes families to investigators. Large marginal treatment effect estimates suggest caution in the interpretation, but the results suggest that children on the margin of placement tend to have better outcomes when they remain at home, especially older children. [close]
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Dustmann, Christia (2008).
Return Migration, Investment in Children, and Intergenerational Mobility: Comparing Sons of Foreign- and Native-Born Fathers.
In: Journal of Human Ressources
43(2)
, 299-324
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper studies parental investment in education and intergenerational earnings mobility for father-son pairs with native- and foreign-born fathers. We illustrate within a simple model that for immigrants, investment in their children is related to their return migration probability. In our empirical analysis, we include a measure for return probabilities, based on repeated information about migrants’ return intentions. Our results suggest that educational investments in the son are positively associated with a higher probability of a permanent migration of the father. We also find that the son’s permanent wages are positively associated with the probability of the father’s permanent migration. [close]
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Goldin, Claudia and Lawrence F. Katz (2008).
Transitions: Career and Family Life Cycles of the Educational Elite.
In: American Economic Review
98(2)
, 363-369
.
Abstract.
Link.
Among life’s most vital transitions are those concerning family and career. We decide when and whom to marry, how many children to have, whether to further our education, and which occupations and jobs to pursue. Fundamental aspects of these transitions began to change around the early 1970s for the college educated generally, and for women in particular. The median age at first marriage among college graduate women, which had been stable at about 22.5 years old from the 1950s to the early 1970s (for birth cohorts from the 1930s to about 1950), increased by 2.5 years between 1972 and 1979 (for birth cohorts from about 1950 to 1955). The fraction of women not having a first birth by around 40 years old increased from 20 percent for those graduating in the early 1960s, to 28 percent for those graduating in the 1970s. College graduate women greatly increased their education in professional schools; the fraction female among first-year law and medical school students, for example, was 10 percent in 1970 but rose to 40 percent by 1990. Marriage age and fraction female among first-year professional students are from Goldin and Katz (2002). Fractions not having a first birth among all female college graduates are from the Current Population Report Fertility Supplements and refer to the average for the 35- to 44-yearold group. Gender Differences in Careers, Education, and Games† Transitions: Career and Family Life Cycles of the Educational Elite By Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz* A considerable amount is known regarding family and career transitions among cohorts of college graduates during much of the past century. But far less is known about whether these transitions have been similar for those who graduated from the more selective institutions of higher education. Focusing on more selective institutions is also called for by many recent issues. Among them is the discussion of “opting out” in the popular literature, which has concerned the possibility that female graduates of highly selective colleges squander their education. In addition, we do not know if the narrowing of the gender gap in earnings has also occurred among those in the upper tail of the educational distribution. We ask whether the general trends of the past three decades in family and career transitions can be observed, as well, among those graduating from one of the most elite institutions of higher education. We also explore the trade-offs between family and career, particularly for college graduate women. [close]
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Han, Song and Casey B. Mulligan (2001).
Human Capital, Heterogeneity and Estimated Degrees of Intergenerational Mobility.
In: Economic Journal
111(470)
, 207-243
.
Abstract.
Link.
Some of the important implications of the parental investment model of intergenerational mobility have been derived under the assumption that parental income is the main source of heterogeneity. We explicitly model the variability and inheritability of innate' earnings ability and the variability of tastes, showing how they affect observed degrees of intergenerational consumption and earnings mobility. Heterogeneity increases the difficulty of detecting the existence of borrowing constrained families. Conversely, the presence of heterogeneity means that economic and linear statistical models of inheritance generate similar intergenerational data on consumption and earnings. In this sense, our findings offer some support for Goldberger's (1989) criticism of human capital models of inheritance. Finally, we suggest that any cross-country differences in intergenerational earnings mobility are more readily interpreted according to the heterogeneity of inherited ability, rather than optimal family responses to country-specific institutions for accumulating human capital. [close]
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Hirvonen, Lalaina H. (2008).
Intergenerational Earnings Mobility Among Daughters and Sons, Evidence from Sweden and a Comparison with the United States.
In: American Journal of Economics and Sociology
67(5)
, 777-826
.
Abstract.
Link.
This article adopts Chadwick and Solon's (2002) model by using family earnings in the study of intergenerational earnings mobility with a highlight on the role of assortative mating. I analyze mean and quantile regression coefficients as well as transition matrices to investigate family earnings mobility between parents and daughters and parents and sons from Swedish register data. My findings indicate that Sweden has a higher degree of mobility compared to the United States, and that assortative mating also plays an important role as a channel through which income status is transmitted across generations in Sweden. However, the difference in intergenerational mobility patterns between the two countries does not, inherently, depend on factors that affect the marriage match. Swedish daughters and sons exhibit a rather similar scheme of intergenerational earnings transmission. Daughters tend to be slightly more mobile than sons, and the difference between their elasticity estimates is small but statistically significant. The quantile regression approach reveals that parents' family earnings are less important as an explanatory variable at the upper end of the children's earnings distribution than they are at the bottom, while transition matrices show substantial earnings persistence in the top earnings class. [close]
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Holmlund, Helena, Mikael Lindahl and Erik Plug (2011).
The Causal Effect of Parents' Schooling on Children's Schooling: A Comparison of Estimation Methods.
In: Journal of Economic Literature
49(3)
, 615-651
.
Abstract.
Link.
We review the empirical literature that estimates the causal effect of parent's schooling on child's schooling, and conclude that estimates differ across studies. We then consider three explanations for why this is: (a) idiosyncratic differences in data sets, (b) differences in remaining biases between different identification strategies, and (c) differences across identification strategies in their ability to make out-of-sample predictions. We conclude that discrepancies in past studies can be explained by violations of identifying assumptions. Our reading of past evidence, together with an application to Swedish register data, suggests that intergenerational schooling associations are largely driven by selection. Parental schooling constitutes a large part of the parental nurture effect, but as a whole does not play a large role. [close]
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Miller, Amalia R. (2009).
Motherhood Delay and the Human Capital of the Next Generation.
In: American Economic Review
99(2)
, 154-158
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper exploits biological fertility shocks as instrumental variables to estimate the causal effect of motherhood delay on the cognitive ability of the next generation. Using detailed panel data on women in the NLSY79 and their first-born children aged 5 to 14, we find that a year of delay leads to significant increases in math and reading scores: a 7 year delay produces gains on par with the black-white score difference. These results reveal a potential weakness of pro-natalist policies that promote early motherhood. While such policies may succeed at increasing total period fertility rates, they will be less effective at increasing total human capital. [close]
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Mulligan, Casey B. (1999).
Galton versus the Human Capital Approach to Inheritance.
In: Journal of Political Economy
107(S6)
, 184-224
.
Abstract.
Link.
The field of biology offers a simple but serious competitor to Gary Becker's theory of the intergenerational transmission of inequality. Many economists have utilized Gary's model to analyze important empirical and policy questions but none have shown that the economic approach dominates Galton's approach from a positive point of view. I derive ten implications of the human capital approach which are distinct from Galton's and provide evidence on nine of them. The evidence includes my own analysis of the PSID, SCF, and NLSY micro data sets as well as references to results reported in previous literatures. Five of the uniquely economic implications appear to be refuted. Three implications are verified - although one is rather trivial - while mixed results are obtained for a ninth implication. [close]
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Pekkarinen, Tuomas, Roope Uusitalo and Sari Kerr (2009).
School tracking and intergenerational income mobility: Evidence from the Finnish comprehensive school reform.
In: Journal of Public Economics
93(7-8)
, 965-973
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper estimates the effect of a major education reform on intergenerational income mobility. The Finnish comprehensive school reform of 1972–1977 replaced the old two-track school system with a uniform nine-year comprehensive school and shifted the selection of students to vocational and academic tracks from age 11 to age 16. We estimate the effect of this reform on the intergenerational income elasticity using a representative sample of males born between 1960 and 1966. The identification strategy relies on a differences-in-differences approach and exploits the fact that the reform was implemented gradually across the country during a six-year period. The results indicate that the reform reduced the intergenerational income elasticity by 23% from the pre-reform elasticity of 0.30 to post-reform elasticity of 0.23. [close]
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Piopiunik, Marc (2014).
Intergenerational Transmission of Education and Mediating Channels: Evidence from a Compulsory Schooling Reform in Germany.
In: Scandinavian Journal of Economics
116(3)
, 878-907
.
Abstract.
Link.
In this paper, I estimate the causal effect that an additional year of schooling for parents has on their children's education, by exploiting a compulsory schooling reform that was implemented in all West German states between 1946 and 1969. Although previous research indicates that the reform had no effect on earnings, I find that an additional year of schooling for women strongly affects the education of their sons. There is no effect for the other parent–child gender pairs. I investigate numerous channels that might mediate the positive effect of the education of mothers. Most importantly, I find that individuals with more schooling value their children's educational success as more important. [close]
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Segal, Carmit (2008).
Classroom Behavior.
In: Journal of Human Ressources
43(4)
, 783-814
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper investigates the determinants and malleability of noncognitive skills. Using data on boys from the National Education Longitudinal Survey, I focus on youth behavior in the classroom as a measure of noncognitive skills. I find that student behavior during adolescence is persistent. The variation in behavior can be attributed to unobserved individual heterogeneity. Family and school characteristics, as well as the incentives for good behavior provided at home and in school, are important determinants of behavior. Neither the cross-sectional variation in behavior nor the variation over time in behavior can, however, be attributed to these covariates. [close]
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Solon, Gary (1992).
Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States.
In: American Economic Review
82(3)
, 393-408
.
Abstract.
Link.
Social scientists and policy analysts have long expressed concern about the extent of intergenerational income mobility in the United States, but remarkably little empirical evidence is available. The few existing estimates of the intergenerational correlation in income have been biased downward by measurement error, unrepresentative samples, or both. New estimates based on intergenerational data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics imply that the intergenerational correlation in long-run income is at least 0.4, indicating dramatically less mobility than suggested by earlier research. Copyright 1992 by American Economic Association. [close]
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Tomes, Nigel (1981).
The Family, Inheritance, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Inequality.
In: Journal of Political Economy
89(5)
, 928-958
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper provides estimates of the correlation in lifetime earnings between fathers and sons. Intergenerational data from the National Longitudinal Survey are used. Earlier studies, conducted for the United States, report elasticities of children's earnings with respect to parent's earnings of 0.2 or less, suggesting extensive integenerational mobility. These estimates, however, are biased downward by error-contaminated measures of lifetime economic status. Estimates presented in this paper correct for the problem of measurement error and find the intergenerational correlation in income to be on the order of 0.4. This suggests considerably less intergenerational mobility than previously believed. [close]
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Woessmann, Ludger (2008).
How Equal Are Educational Opportunities? Family Background and Student Achievement in Europe and the United States.
In: Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft
78(1)
, 45-70
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper estimates the effects of family-background characteristics on student performance in the US and 17 Western European school systems. Family background has strong effects both in Europe and the United States, remarkably similar in size. France and Flemish Belgium achieve the most equitable performance for students from different family backgrounds, and Britain and Germany the least. Equality of opportunities is unrelated to countries’ mean performance. Quantile regressions show little variation in family-background effects across the ability distribution in most countries. [close]
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Zimmerman, David J. (1992).
Regression Towards Mediocrity in Economic Status.
In: American Economic Review
82(3)
, 409-429
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper provides estimates of the correlation in lifetime earnings between fathers and sons. Intergenerational data from the National Longitudinal Survey are used. Earlier studies, conducted for the United States, report elasticities of children's earnings with respect to parent's earnings of 0.2 or less, suggesting extensive integenerational mobility. These estimates, however, are biased downward by error-contaminated measures of lifetime economic status. Estimates presented in this paper correct for the problem of measurement error and find the intergenerational correlation in income to be on the order of 0.4. This suggests considerably less intergenerational mobility than previously believed. [close]