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From the Cradle to the Grave: The Influence of Family Background on the Career Path of Italian Men

Author

Listed:
  • Raitano Michele
  • Vona Francesco

Abstract

Using a longitudinal data set that contains detailed information on working histories of Italian men, we investigate the relationship between parental background and sons’ earnings profiles. We find that the parental influence on sons’ earnings persists over the career and that the direct influence controlling for sons’ education is large and grows during the working career. After twenty years of experience, our baseline specification indicates that an additional year of parental education is associated with a 2.0% increase in sons’ wages, while an additional year of son's education is associated with a 4.8% increase. We use educational mobility between parents and sons to disentangle this influence into a glass ceiling effect – a premium for well‐off children who have high educational attainments – and a parachute effect – a premium for well‐off children who acquire less education than their parents. We find that both effects contribute to explain the steeper earnings profiles of the well‐off sons, consistently with the idea that family ties play a crucial allocative role in the Italian labour market.

Suggested Citation

  • Raitano Michele & Vona Francesco, 2018. "From the Cradle to the Grave: The Influence of Family Background on the Career Path of Italian Men," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(6), pages 1062-1088, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:obuest:v:80:y:2018:i:6:p:1062-1088
    DOI: 10.1111/obes.12237
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    Cited by:

    1. Silvia Avram & Olga Canto, 2016. "Labour outcomes and family background: Evidence from the EU during the recession," Working Papers 414, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    2. Struffolino, Emanuela & Raitano, Michele, 2020. "Early-career complexity before and after labour-market deregulation in Italy: Heterogeneity by gender and socio-economic status across cohorts," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 151(1), pages 231-257.
    3. Fabrizi, Elena & Sulis, Isabella & Busetta, Annalisa & Ragozini, Giancarlo, 2024. "Intergenerational transmission of disadvantages in the Italian labour market," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    4. Raitano, Michele & Vona, Francesco, 2021. "Nepotism vs. Specific Skills: The effect of professional liberalization on returns to parental background of Italian lawyers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 489-505.
    5. Bavaro, Michele & Patriarca, Fabrizio, 2022. "Referrals, intergenerational mobility and human capital accumulation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    6. Raffaella Piccarreta & Emanuela Struffolino, 2024. "Identifying and Qualifying Deviant Cases in Clusters of Sequences: The Why and The How," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 40(1), pages 1-19, December.
    7. Bonacini, Luca & Patriarca, Fabrizio & Santoni, Edoardo, 2024. "Background wage premia, beyond education: firm sorting and unobserved abilities," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1459, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6dffcvpj8t96bpc00heumik4e0 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Francesco Bloise & Michele Raitano, 2021. "Intergenerational Earnings Persistence in Italy between Actual Father–Son Pairs Accounting for Lifecycle and Attenuation Bias," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(1), pages 88-114, February.
    10. Melanie Arntz & Cäcilia Lipowski & Guido Neidhöfer & Ulrich Zierahn-Weilage, 2025. "Computers as Stepping Stones? Technological Change and Equality of Labor Market Opportunities," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(2), pages 503-543.
    11. Bonacini, Luca & Patriarca, Fabrizio & Santoni, Edoardo, 2025. "Background wage premia, beyond education: Firm sorting and unobserved abilities of graduates," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    12. Bamieh, Omar & Cintolesi, Andrea, 2021. "Intergenerational transmission in regulated professions and the role of familism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 857-879.
    13. Francesco Bloise & Michele Raitano, 2019. "Intergenerational earnings elasticity of actual father-son pairs in Italy accounting for lifecycle and attenuation bias," Working Papers 504, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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