Intergenerational social mobility : measurement, mechanisms and policy[Mobilité sociale intergénérationnelle : mesure, mécanismes, et politique publique]

To what extent are individuals' life outcomes shaped by their childhood circumstances,such as their parents' incomes, the neighborhood(s) they grew up in, their school teachers,etc.? In the United States, only 7.5% of children born in the early 1980s to parents in thebottom 20% of the income distribution reach the top 20% as adults (Chetty et al., 2014). Whatexplains such a strong persistence in incomes across generations? What policies may helpremediate these intergenerational inequalities? How do other countries compare with the UnitedStates? In particular, does France a country with significantly less income inequality and arelatively inexpensive higher education system, exhibit more intergenerational mobility?These questions lie at the heart of my dissertation. Each chapter aims to (modestly) improveour understanding of the possible answers to these questions. Chapter 1, joint with LouisSirugue, measures the extent of persistence in incomes across generations in France, andcompares the results to those found for other advanced economies. Chapter 2 aims to betterunderstand one of the mechanisms underlying intergenerational immobility, specifically howstudents choose which college and major to pursue after high school. In particular, it exploreshow students are influenced by the higher education trajectories of older schoolmates. Chapter3 evaluates whether higher education enrollment and graduation gaps between high-achieving,low-income students and their high income peers can be reduced by providing these studentswith additional financial support.