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Education and Intergenerational Mobility: Help or Hindrance?

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  • Jo Blanden
  • Lindsey Macmillan

Abstract

Evidence on intergenerational income mobility in the UK is dated. This paper seeks to update our knowledge by introducing new estimates of mobility for later measures of earnings in the 1958 and 1970 birth cohorts. Given poor or non-existent data on more recent cohorts we adopt an indirect approach to assessing more recent mobility trends. This exploits the close link between income persistence across generations and the gap in educational achievement by family background (referred to as educational inequality). We gather a comprehensive set of data which measures educational inequality for different cohorts at different points in the education system. We conclude that educational inequality has declined for cohorts born after 1980, and this is associated with rising average educational achievement. In contrast, evidence on high attainment does not reveal that educational inequality has declined; this suggests that policy seeking to promote equality of opportunity should encourage students to aim high.

Suggested Citation

  • Jo Blanden & Lindsey Macmillan, 2014. "Education and Intergenerational Mobility: Help or Hindrance?," CASE Papers case179, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:sticas:case179
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    File URL: https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/casepaper179.pdf
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    1. Jo Blanden & Paul Gregg & Lindsey Macmillan, 2007. "Accounting for Intergenerational Income Persistence: Noncognitive Skills, Ability and Education," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(519), pages 43-60, March.
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    11. Walker, Ian & Zhu, Yu, 2011. "Differences by degree: Evidence of the net financial rates of return to undergraduate study for England and Wales," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1177-1186.
    12. Jo Blanden & Paul Gregg & Lindsey Macmillan, 2013. "Intergenerational persistence in income and social class: the effect of within-group inequality," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(2), pages 541-563, February.
    13. Dearden, Lorraine, et al, 2002. "The Returns to Academic and Vocational Qualifications in Britain," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 249-274, July.
    14. Joanne Lindley & Stephen Machin, 2012. "The Quest for More and More Education: Implications for Social Mobility," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 265-286, June.
    15. Chevalier, Arnaud, 2011. "Subject choice and earnings of UK graduates," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1187-1201.
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    20. Paul Gregg & Lindsey Macmillan, 2009. "Family Income and Education in the Next Generation: Exploring income gradients in education for current cohorts of youth," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 09/223, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Claire Crawford & Lindsey Macmillan & Anna Vignoles, 2015. "When and why do initially high attaining poor children fall behind?," DoQSS Working Papers 15-08, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    2. Claire Crawford, 2014. "Socio-economic differences in university outcomes in the UK: drop-out, degree completion and degree class," IFS Working Papers W14/31, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    3. Hellier, Joël, 2017. "Stratified higher education,social mobility at the top and efficiency: The case of the French ‘Grandes écoles’," MPRA Paper 76724, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Leone, Tharcisio, 2017. "The gender gap in intergenerational mobility: Evidence of educational persistence in Brazil," Discussion Papers 2017/27, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    5. García-Peñalosa, Cecilia & Petit, Fabien & van Ypersele, Tanguy, 2023. "Can workers still climb the social ladder as middling jobs become scarce? Evidence from two British cohorts," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    6. Crawford, Claire & Macmillan, Lindsey & Vignoles, Anna F., 2015. "When and why do initially high attaining poor children fall behind?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121535, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Orhan Torul & Oguz Oztunali, 2017. "Intergenerational Educational Mobility in Europe," Working Papers 2017/03, Bogazici University, Department of Economics.
    8. Yee, Karol Mark Ramirez, 2023. "Raising the floor while lowering the ceiling: Reduced inequities in education returns in the Philippines," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    9. Silvia Mendolia & Peter Siminski, 2016. "New Estimates of Intergenerational Mobility in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 92(298), pages 361-373, September.
    10. Leonardo Fabio Morales & Christian Posso & Luz A. Flórez, 2021. "Heterogeneity in the Returns to Tertiary Education for the Disadvantage Youth: Quality vs. Quantity Analysis," Borradores de Economia 1150, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    11. Leone, Tharcisio, 2019. "The geography of intergenerational mobility: Evidence of educational persistence and the "Great Gatsby Curve" in Brazil," GIGA Working Papers 318, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    12. Arden Finn & Murray Leibbrandt & Vimal Ranchhod, 2016. "Patterns of persistence: Intergenerational mobility and education in South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 175, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    13. Leone, Tharcisio, 2021. "The gender gap in intergenerational mobility," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    14. repec:cep:spccrp:20 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Iva Valentinova Tasseva, 2021. "The Changing Education Distribution and Income Inequality in Great Britain," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(3), pages 659-683, September.
    16. Tharcisio Leone, 2019. "The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence of Educational Persistence and the “Great Gatsby Curve" in Brazil," Documentos de Trabajo 17526, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA).
    17. Driouchi, Ahmed & Gamar, Alae, 2016. "The Gap between Educational & Social Intergenerational Mobility in Arab Countries," MPRA Paper 73998, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    intergenerational income mobility;

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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