This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Has the Intergenerational Transmission of Economic Status Changed?

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Susan E. Mayer
Leonard M. Lopoo
Abstract

The elasticity of children’s economic status with respect to parents’ economic status is often taken as an indicator of the extent of equality of opportunity. While many studies have estimated the elasticity for the United States and other countries, only a few have tried to estimate the trend in the elasticity. These studies produce conflicting results. When we use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to estimate the trend in the elasticity of son’s income with respect to parental income, we find no statistically significant trend in the elasticity for sons born between 1949 and 1965. However, our evidence suggests a non-linear trend in which the elasticity increased for sons born between 1949 and 1953, then declined for sons born after that. Thus depending on the time periods one chooses to compare, the trend could be upward, downward or flat. This and other factors help account for different estimates of the trend in economic mobility across studies.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/about/publications/working-papers/pdf/wp_04_14.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago in its series Working Papers with number 0414.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Sep 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:har:wpaper:0414

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 1155 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: 773-702-8400
Email:
Web page: http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Eleanor Cartelli).

Related research
Keywords: economic status;

References listed on IDEAS
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.:

  1. Leonard, Jonathan S, 1984. "The Impact of Affirmative Action on Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(4), pages 439-63, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Lawrence F. Katz & Kevin M. Murphy, 1991. "Changes in Relative Wages, 1963-1987: Supply and Demand Factors," NBER Working Papers 3927, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis & Melissa Osborne, 2001. "The Determinants of Earnings: A Behavioral Approach," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1137-1176, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis, 2002. "The Inheritance of Inequality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 3-30, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Solon, Gary, 1992. "Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 393-408, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Peter Gottschalk & John Fitzgerald & Robert Moffitt, 1997. "An Analysis of the Impact of Sample Attrition on the Second Generation of Respondents in the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 399, Boston College Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. David I. Levine & Bhashkar Mazumder, 2002. "Choosing the right parents: changes in the intergenerational transmission of inequality between 1980 and the early 1990s," Working Paper Series WP-02-08, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
  8. Solon, Gary, 1999. "Intergenerational mobility in the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 29, pages 1761-1800 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Pencavel, John, 1998. "Assortative Mating by Schooling and the Work Behavior of Wives and Husbands," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 326-29, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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.)

  1. Maia Güell & José V. Rodríguez Mora & Chris Telmer, 2007. "Intergenerational Mobility and the Informative Content of Surnames," CEP Discussion Papers dp0810, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? All RePEc services are meant to be be free forever, as they are all run by volunteers.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-22.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.