IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_5009.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Intergenerational Transmission of Unemployment - Evidence for German Sons

Author

Listed:
  • Miriam Mäder
  • Steffen Müller
  • Regina T. Riphahn
  • Caroline Schwientek

Abstract

This paper studies the association between the unemployment experience of fathers and their sons. Based on German survey data that cover the last decades we find significant positive correlations. Using instrumental variables estimation and the Gottschalk (1996) method we investigate to what extent fathers’ unemployment is causal for offsprings’ employment outcomes. In agreement with most of the small international literature we do not find a positive causal effect for intergenerational unemployment transmission. This outcome is robust to alternative data structures and to tests at the intensive and extensive margin of unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Miriam Mäder & Steffen Müller & Regina T. Riphahn & Caroline Schwientek, 2014. "Intergenerational Transmission of Unemployment - Evidence for German Sons," CESifo Working Paper Series 5009, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp5009.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johnson, Paul & Reed, Howard, 1996. "Intergenerational Mobility among the Rich and Poor: Results from the National Child Development Survey," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 127-142, Spring.
    2. Edmark, Karin & Hanspers, Kajsa, 2011. "Is welfare dependency inherited? Estimating the causal welfare transmission effects using Swedish sibling data," Working Paper Series 2011:25, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    3. Blomeyer Dorothea & Laucht Manfred & Coneus Katja & Pfeiffer Friedhelm, 2013. "Early Life Adversity and Children’s Competence Development: Evidence from the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 233(4), pages 467-485, August.
    4. Corak,Miles (ed.), 2004. "Generational Income Mobility in North America and Europe," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521827607, October.
    5. Philipp Bauer & Regina Riphahn, 2007. "Heterogeneity in the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment: evidence from Switzerland on natives and second-generation immigrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(1), pages 121-148, February.
    6. O'Neill, Donal & Sweetman, Olive, 1998. "Intergenerational Mobility in Britain: Evidence from Unemployment Patterns," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 60(4), pages 431-447, November.
    7. Heineck Guido & Riphahn Regina T., 2009. "Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment in Germany – The Last Five Decades," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 229(1), pages 36-60, February.
    8. Schnitzlein, Daniel D., 2014. "How Important Is the Family? Evidence from Sibling Correlations in Permanent Earnings in the USA, Germany, and Denmark," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 69-89.
    9. Philip Oreopoulos & Marianne Page & Ann Huff Stevens, 2008. "The Intergenerational Effects of Worker Displacement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(3), pages 455-483, July.
    10. Wolfgang Franz & Joachim Inkmann & Winfried Pohlmeier & Volker Zimmermann, 2000. "Young and Out in Germany (On Youths? Chances of Labor Market Entrance in Germany)," NBER Chapters, in: Youth Employment and Joblessness in Advanced Countries, pages 381-426, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. De Paola Maria, 2013. "The Determinants of Risk Aversion: The Role of Intergenerational Transmission," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 14(2), pages 214-234, May.
    12. Bratberg, Espen & Nilsen, Øivind Anti & Vaage, Kjell, 2008. "Job losses and child outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 591-603, August.
    13. Schmillen, Achim & Umkehrer, Matthias, 2013. "The scars of youth : effects of early-career unemployment on future unemployment experience," IAB-Discussion Paper 201306, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    14. Gottschalk, Peter, 1996. "Is the correlation in welfare participation across generations spurious?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-25, December.
    15. Lindsey Macmillan, 2010. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Worklessness in the UK," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 10/231, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    16. Antel, John J, 1992. "The Intergenerational Transfer of Welfare Dependency: Some Statistical Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(3), pages 467-473, August.
    17. Nicolas Beaulieu & Jean-Yves Duclos & Bernard Fortin & Manon Rouleau, 2005. "Intergenerational reliance on social assistance: Evidence from Canada," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(3), pages 539-562, September.
    18. Gregg, Paul, 2001. "The Impact of Youth Unemployment on Adult Unemployment in the NCDS," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(475), pages 626-653, November.
    19. Gottschalk, Peter, 1990. "AFDC Participation across Generations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 367-371, May.
    20. Tyra Ekhaugen, 2009. "Extracting the causal component from the intergenerational correlation in unemployment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(1), pages 97-113, January.
    21. O'Neill, Donal & Sweetman, Olive, 1998. "Intergenerational Mobility in Britain: Evidence from Unemployment Patterns," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 60(4), pages 431-447, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Steffen Müller & Regina T. Riphahn & Caroline Schwientek, 2017. "Paternal unemployment during childhood: causal effects on youth worklessness and educational attainment," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(1), pages 213-238.
    2. Holtemöller, Oliver & Lindner, Axel, 2018. "Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung Sachsen-Anhalts seit 1990," IWH Discussion Papers 6/2018, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    3. Gabriella Berloffa & Eleonora Matteazzi & Paola Villa, 2016. "Family background and youth labour market outcomes across Europe," Working Papers 393, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    4. Jennifer Feichtmayer & Regina T. Riphahn, 2023. "Intergenerational Transmission of Welfare Benefit Receipt: Evidence from Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 10835, CESifo.
    5. Nikolova, Milena & Nikolaev, Boris N., 2021. "Family matters: The effects of parental unemployment in early childhood and adolescence on subjective well-being later in life," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 312-331.
    6. Kind, Michael, 2015. "Start me up: How fathers' unemployment affects their sons' school-to-work transitions," Ruhr Economic Papers 583, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Jennifer Feichtmayer & Regina T. Riphahn, 2023. "Intergenerational Transmission of Welfare Benefit Receipt: Evidence from Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1201, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    8. Fitzenberger Bernd & Gürtzgen Nicole & Pfeiffer Friedhelm, 2015. "Guest Editorial," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 235(4-5), pages 352-354, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Steffen Müller & Regina T. Riphahn & Caroline Schwientek, 2017. "Paternal unemployment during childhood: causal effects on youth worklessness and educational attainment," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(1), pages 213-238.
    2. Gabriella Berloffa & Eleonora Matteazzi & Paola Villa, 2016. "Family background and youth labour market outcomes across Europe," Working Papers 393, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    3. Zwysen, Wouter, 2013. "Where you go depends on where you come from: the influence of father’s employment status on young adult’s labour market experiences," ISER Working Paper Series 2013-24, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Anna Christina D'Addio, 2007. "Intergenerational Transmission of Disadvantage: Mobility or Immobility Across Generations?," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 52, OECD Publishing.
    5. Velilla, Jorge, 2020. "Intergenerational correlation of self-employment in European countries," MPRA Paper 104184, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Gimenez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2020. "Short- vs Long-Term Intergenerational Correlations of Employment and Self-Employment in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 12933, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Lindsey Macmillan, 2013. "The role of non-cognitive and cognitive skills, behavioural and educational outcomes in accounting for the intergenerational transmission of worklessness," DoQSS Working Papers 13-01, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    8. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Dahmann, Sarah C. & Salamanca, Nicolás & Zhu, Anna, 2022. "Intergenerational disadvantage: Learning about equal opportunity from social assistance receipt," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Coelli, Michael B. & Green, David A. & Warburton, William P., 2007. "Breaking the cycle? The effect of education on welfare receipt among children of welfare recipients," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(7-8), pages 1369-1398, August.
    10. Kleverbeck, Maria & Kind, Michael, 2015. "Does parental unemployment affect the quality of their children's first job?," Ruhr Economic Papers 596, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    11. Juan D. Baron & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Nisvan Erkal, 2008. "Cultural Transmission of Work-Welfare Attitudes and the Intergenerational Correlation in Welfare Receipt," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1059, The University of Melbourne.
    12. Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf & Grübl, Dominik & Lackner, Mario, 2020. "Intergenerational Transmission of Unemployment - Causal Evidence from Austria," CEPR Discussion Papers 14505, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Nicolas Hérault & Guyonne Kalb, 2016. "Intergenerational correlation of labor market outcomes," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 231-249, March.
    14. Corak, Miles & Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Österberg, Torun, 2000. "Intergenerational Influences on the Receipt of Unemployment Insurance in Canada and Sweden," IZA Discussion Papers 184, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Josephson, Malin & Karnehed, Nina & Lindahl, Erica & Persson, Helena, 2013. "Intergenerational transmission of long-term sick leave," Working Paper Series 2013:19, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    16. Black, Sandra E. & Devereux, Paul J., 2011. "Recent Developments in Intergenerational Mobility," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 16, pages 1487-1541, Elsevier.
    17. Nicolas Hérault & Guyonne Kalb, 2016. "Intergenerational correlation of labor market outcomes," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 231-249, March.
    18. Tyra Ekhaugen, 2009. "Extracting the causal component from the intergenerational correlation in unemployment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(1), pages 97-113, January.
    19. Juan D. Barón & Deborah A. Cobb‐Clark & Nisvan Erkal, 2015. "Welfare receipt and the intergenerational transmission of work‐welfare norms," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(1), pages 208-234, July.
    20. Wouter Zwysen, 2015. "The effects of father’s worklessness on young adults in the UK," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-15, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    youth unemployment; non-employment; intergenerational mobility; causal effect; Gottschalk method;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5009. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.