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Social Mobility in Sweden Before the Welfare State

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  • Berger, Thor
  • Engzell, Per
  • Eriksson, Björn
  • Molinder, Jakob

Abstract

We use historical census data to show that Sweden exhibited high levels of intergenerational occupational mobility several decades before the rise of the welfare state. Mobility rates were higher than in other 19th- and 20th-century European countries, closer to those observed in the highly mobile 19th-century United States. We leverage mobility variation across Swedish municipalities to shed light on potential determinants: economic growth and migration are positively correlated with mobility, consistent with the patterns observed across countries.

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  • Berger, Thor & Engzell, Per & Eriksson, Björn & Molinder, Jakob, 2021. "Social Mobility in Sweden Before the Welfare State," SocArXiv ebmva, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:ebmva
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/ebmva
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    Cited by:

    1. Berger, Thor & Prawitz, Erik, 2023. "Inventors among the “Impoverished Sophisticate”," Working Paper Series 1462, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    2. Antonie, Luiza & Inwood, Kris & Minns, Chris & Summerfield, Fraser, 2022. "Intergenerational Mobility in a Mid-Atlantic Economy: Canada, 1871–1901," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(4), pages 1003-1029, December.
    3. Dora Costa & CoraLee Lewis & Noelle Yetter, 2022. "Children and Grandchildren of Union Army Veterans: New Data Collections to Study the Persistence of Longevity and Socioeconomic Status Across Generations," NBER Working Papers 30747, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-

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