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Social mobility at the top and the higher education system

Author

Listed:
  • Elise Brezis

    (Bar-Ilan University [Israël])

  • Joël Hellier

    (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - IEMN-IAE Nantes - Institut d'Économie et de Management de Nantes - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - UN - Université de Nantes)

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. A key result is that the wider the quality gap and the difference in per-student expenditures between elite and standard universities, the less social mobility. This is because a larger quality gap reinforces the weight of family backgrounds at the expense of personal ability. Our simulations show that this impact can be large. These findings provide theoretical bases for the differences in social mobility at the top observed between advanced countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Elise Brezis & Joël Hellier, 2018. "Social mobility at the top and the higher education system," Post-Print hal-01744553, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01744553
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2017.04.005
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Stéphane Benveniste, 2023. "Like Father, Like Child: Intergenerational Mobility in the French Grandes Écoles throughout the 20 th Century," Working Papers hal-04221167, HAL.
    5. Elise S. Brezis, 2022. "Why Was Keynes Opposed to Reparations and Carthaginian Peace?‎," Working Papers 2022-04, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    6. Elise S. Brezis & Amir Rubin, 2024. "Will automation and robotics lead to more inequality?," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 92(3), pages 209-230, June.
    7. 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.
    8. Brezis, Elise & Rubin, Amir, 2025. "Polarization in Higher Education and Technological Leadership," MPRA Paper 124200, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Joel HELLIER, 2021. "Globalization and Inequality in Advanced Economies: A Provisional Assessment," Working Papers 575, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    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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