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Occupational dualism and intergenerational educational mobility in the rural economy: evidence from China and India

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  • Shahe Emran, M.
  • Ferreira, Francisco H. G.
  • Jiang, Yajing
  • Sun, Yan

Abstract

We extend the Becker-Tomes model to a rural economy with farm-nonfarm occupational dualism to study intergenerational educational mobility in rural China and India. Using data free of coresidency bias, we find that fathers’ nonfarm occupation and education were complementary in determining sons schooling in India, but separable in China. Sons faced lower mobility in India irrespective of fathers’ occupation. Sensitivity analysis using the Altonji et al. (J. Polit. Econ. 113(1), 151–84, 2005) approach suggests that genetic correlations alone could explain the intergenerational persistence in China, but not in India. Farm-nonfarm differences in returns to education, and geographic mobility are plausible mechanisms behind the contrasting cross-country evidence.

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  • Shahe Emran, M. & Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Jiang, Yajing & Sun, Yan, 2023. "Occupational dualism and intergenerational educational mobility in the rural economy: evidence from China and India," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120490, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:120490
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    3. Hanan Morsy & Abebe Shimeles & Tiguene Nabassaga, 2023. "Structural Change and Inequality in Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 228-245.
    4. Olivier Bargain & Maria C. Lo Bue & Flaviana Palmisano, 2021. "Dynastic measures of inter-generational mobility with empirical evidence from Indonesia," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-70, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Gu, Xiang & Hua, Sheng & McKenzie, Tom & Zheng, Yanqiao, 2022. "Like father, like son? Parental input, access to higher education, and social mobility in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Jian Song, 2025. "Multidimensional Poverty in Rural China: Human Capital vs Social Capital," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-20.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    educational mobility; rural economy; occupational dualism; farm-nonfarm; complementarity; coresidency bias; China; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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