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Social mobility at the top and the higher education system

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  • Brezis, Elise S.
  • Hellier, Joël

Abstract

This paper relates social mobility and social stratification to the structure of higher education. We develop an intergenerational model which shows that a two-tier higher education characterised by a division between elite and standard universities can be a key factor in generating permanent social stratification, social immobility and self-reproduction of the ‘elite’. In our approach, low mobility at the top is essentially explained by the differences in quality and in selection between elite and standard universities.

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  • Brezis, Elise S. & Hellier, Joël, 2018. "Social mobility at the top and the higher education system," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 36-54.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:52:y:2018:i:c:p:36-54
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2017.04.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Elise S. Brezis & Gilad Brand, 2018. "Productivity Gap between Sectors and Double Duality in Labor Markets," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 725-749, September.
    2. Elise S. Brezis, 2020. "Trade Policy and National Identity: Why Keynes Was Opposed to Protectionist Policies?," Working Papers 2020-02, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    3. Joel HELLIER, 2021. "Globalization and Inequality in Advanced Economies: A Provisional Assessment," Working Papers 575, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    4. Shuanglong Li & Yunsong Chen & Guangye He, 2019. "Mapping Public Concerns About Class Immobility in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 745-765, July.
    5. Stéphane Benveniste, 2023. "Like Father, Like Child: Intergenerational Mobility in the French Grandes Écoles throughout the 20 th Century," AMSE Working Papers 2318, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    6. Di Gioacchino, Debora & Sabani, Laura & Tedeschi, Simone, 2019. "Individual preferences for public education spending: Does personal income matter?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 211-228.
    7. David Salomón Aké-Uitz, 2023. "Did the expansion of educational supply at higher education promote intergenerational social mobility in Mexico?/¿La expansión de la oferta educativa en la educación superior promovió la movilidad," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 38(1), pages 103-142.
    8. Elise S. Brezis, 2022. "Why Was Keynes Opposed to Reparations and Carthaginian Peace?‎," Working Papers 2022-04, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    9. Elise S. Brezis, 2018. "Elitism in Higher Education and Inequality: Why Are the Nordic Countries So Special?," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 53(4), pages 201-208, July.
    10. Joel HELLIER, 2023. "Increasing skill premium and education decisions: Higher intra-skilled inequality and lower inter-skill mobility," Working Papers 643, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    11. Nauro Campos & Karim Aynaoui & Davide Furceri & Prakash Loungani, 2018. "Slow Recovery to Nowhere? Labor Market Issues in Advanced Economies: Introduction," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 695-701, September.
    12. Élisabeth Tovar & Matthieu Bunel, 2021. "Attitudes on past-in-present educational discrimination. Insights from a representative factorial survey," EconomiX Working Papers 2021-28, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Elite; Higher Education; Intergenerational mobility; Social stratification;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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