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Intergenerational Social Mobility and Assortative Mating in Britain

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Author Info
Ermisch, John (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex and IZA, Bonn)
Francesconi, Marco () (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex and IZA, Bonn)

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Abstract

This paper investigates the links between the socio-economic position of parents and the socio-economic position of their offspring and, through the marriage market, the socioeconomic position of their offspring’s parents-in-law. Using the Goldthorpe-Hope score of occupational prestige as a measure of status and samples drawn from the British Household Panel Survey 1991-1999, we find that the intergenerational elasticity is around 0.2 for men and between 0.17 and 0.23 for women. On average, the intragenerational correlation is lower, and of the order of 0.15 to 0.18, suggesting that the returns to human capital, which is transmitted across generations by altruistic parents, contribute more to social status than assortative mating in the marriage market. Substantially higher estimates are reported when measurement error is accounted for. We also find strong nonlinearities, whereby both inter- and intra-generational elasticities tend to increase with parental status. We offer four possible explanations for this finding, three of which "one based on mean-displacement shifts in the occupational prestige distribution, another based on life-cycle effects and the third based on differential measurement errors" do not find strong support in our data. The fourth explanation is based on the notion of intergenerational transmission of social capital and intellectual capital. The evidence supports the idea that richer parents are likely to have a larger and more valuable stock of both social capital and intellectual capital to pass on to their children.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 465.

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Length: 65 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2002
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp465

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Related research
Keywords: Intergenerational links marriage market assortative mating Goldthorpe-Hope occupational prestige index social and intellectual capital

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism

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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.:
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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.)

  1. Bauer, Philipp & Riphahn, Regina T., 2004. "Heterogeneity in the Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment: Evidence from Switzerland on Natives and Second Generation Immigrants," IZA Discussion Papers 1354, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. repec:ese:iserwp: is not listed on IDEAS
  3. Sari Pekkala, 2003. "Is Little Brother Nothing but Trouble?: Educational Attainment, Returns to Schooling and Sibling Structure," VATT Discussion Papers 302, Government Institute for Economic Research (VATT). [Downloadable!]
  4. Blanden, Joanne, 2005. "Love and Money: Intergenerational Mobility and Marital Matching on Parental Income," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2005272e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
  5. Blanden, Joanne, 2005. "Amour et argent : mobilité intergénérationnelle et appariement conjugal d'après le revenu des parents," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 2005272f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques. [Downloadable!]
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