Intergenerational Income Mobility in Singapore

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Intergenerational Income Mobility in Singapore

Author Info

Irene Ng (National University of Singapore)

Abstract

Research on intergenerational earnings mobility in less developed economies is lacking. This paper investigates the case of Singapore, a newly-industrialized economy in Asia. Interval regressions are employed because of grouped dependent variables. Instrumental variables address problems of respondent errors and unobserved permanent income. Still, the estimated intergenerational elasticity of between 0.23 and 0.28 is probably under-estimated because the study uses a survey of young respondents who reported contemporaneous incomes of parents. Transformation of the estimates using scales in recent comparative studies indicates that intergenerational earnings mobility in Singapore may be moderately low when compared internationally. Education as a means through which parents invest in their children's future earnings appears important. There are some small independent returns from schooling. Mobility does not appear to differ by ethnicity, sex or income. These findings have important implications for equity, development and policy in Singapore, which has rising income disparity, a maturing economy, and an educational system which is increasingly privately run.

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Article provided by Berkeley Electronic Press in its journal Topics in Economic Analysis & Policy.

Volume (Year): 7 (2007)
Issue (Month): 2 ()
Pages: 1713-1713
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References listed on IDEAS
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

Irene YH Ng & Xiaoyi Shen & Kong Weng Ho, 2008. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility in Singapore and the United States," Economic Growth centre Working Paper Series 0803, Nanyang Technolgical University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Economic Growth centre. [Downloadable!]

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