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Patterns and Determinants of Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Evidence Across Countries

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  • Lee, Hanol
  • Lee, Jong-Wha

Abstract

This study measures the intergenerational persistence of education attainment, using internationally comparable data for parents' and children's education levels by age cohort for 30 countries, and identifies its determinants. The estimated intergenerational regression coefficients show that educational mobility worsened over generations in most countries, but its degrees varies considerably across countries and over time. The country-cohort panel regressions show that intergenerational educational mobility decreases with educational expansion, income inequality and credit constraints, and increases with per-capita GDP. The results also highlight the importance of progressive public expenditure on education for improving intergenerational educational mobility.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Hanol & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2019. "Patterns and Determinants of Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Evidence Across Countries," AGI Working Paper Series 2019-02, Asian Growth Research Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:agi:wpaper:00000151
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    intergenerational mobility; education; income inequality; education spending; credit constraint;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General

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