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Sibling correlations in terms of education, profession and earnings, in France

Author

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  • Céline Lecavelier des Etangs-Levallois
  • Arnaud Lefranc

    (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA)

Abstract

This paper examines the contribution of family background to inequality in France by estimating sibling correlations in various measures of socio-economic success. Compared to often reported measures of intergenerational elasticity, the sibling correlation in socio-economic outcomes allows to capture a broader set of family influences. We use data from the French Education-Training-Employment (FQP) survey to investigate similarities between siblings in education, social prestige and earnings. We also investigate trends over time in sibling correlations and differences across family types in siblings' characteristics. Our results indicate a high degree of association in siblings' socio-economic success. The correlation is around 0.3 and 0.5 respectively for social prestige and years of education. The sibling correlation in annual earnings is around 0.4. All in all, this indicates that estimates of the intergenerational elasticity lead to underestimate the role of family background in children's success in France.

Suggested Citation

  • Céline Lecavelier des Etangs-Levallois & Arnaud Lefranc, 2017. "Sibling correlations in terms of education, profession and earnings, in France," THEMA Working Papers 2017-12, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    • Handle: RePEc:ema:worpap:2017-12
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    Cited by:

    1. McGarry, Kathleen & Sun, Xiaoting, 2018. "Three Generations of Changing Gender Patterns of Schooling in the People’s Republic of China," ADBI Working Papers 834, Asian Development Bank Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    sibling correlations; intergenerational mobility; family background;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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