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Intergenerational mobility in the 19th century: micro-level evidence from the city of Zurich

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Listed:
  • Giacomin Favre
  • Joël Floris
  • Ulrich Woitek

Abstract

We analyze social mobility of decennial citizenry cohorts of Zurich born between 1780 and 1870. We categorize individuals according to their occupations and use different measures to show the level, change, and components of intergenerational mobility. Mobility was imperfect and weakly decreasing over time. Both level and change are driven by intergenerational persistence of occupations with a low socioeconomic position and low transition between low and high socioeconomic position.

Suggested Citation

  • Giacomin Favre & Joël Floris & Ulrich Woitek, 2018. "Intergenerational mobility in the 19th century: micro-level evidence from the city of Zurich," ECON - Working Papers 274, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:zur:econwp:274
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    File URL: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/145232/1/econwp274.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Chuard, Patrick & Grassi, Veronica, 2020. "Switzer-Land of Opportunity:Intergenerational Income Mobility in the Land of Vocational Education," Economics Working Paper Series 2011, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    2. Giacomin Favre, 2019. "Bias in social mobility estimates with historical data: evidence from Swiss microdata," ECON - Working Papers 329, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social mobility; occupational mobility; 19th century; Switzerland;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • 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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