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Intergenerational Earnings Mobility and Divorce

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This paper examines the potential effect of marital disruption on intergenerational earnings mobility.We observe the earnings of children born in 1960 and 1970 along with their biological fathers and mothers. The earnings mobility between sons and daughters relative to the earnings of their mothers and fathers is estimated. Our results suggest that divorce is associated with increased mobility, except between mothers‘ and daughters‘ earnings. Transition matrices reveal that the direction of the mobility is negative; children of divorced parents tend to move downward in the earnings distribution compared to children from intact families. Finally, we utilize information on the earnings mobility of siblings in dissolved families who grew up when the family was intact. The difference between pre- and postdivorce siblings is in turn compared with sibling differences in intact families.

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  • Bratberg, Espen & Rieck, Karsten Marshall Elseth & Vaage, Kjell, 2011. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility and Divorce," Working Papers in Economics 09/11, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:bergec:2011_009
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    Cited by:

    1. Hélène Le Forner, 2019. "Age At Parents' Separation And Children Achievement: Evidence From France Using A Sibling Approach," AMSE Working Papers 1928, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    2. Eva Dziadula, 2022. "Match quality and divorce among naturalized U.S. citizens," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(1), pages 37-61, July.
    3. Crespin-Boucaud, Juliette & Hotte, Rozenn, 2021. "Parental divorces and children’s educational outcomes in Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    4. Deirdre Bloome, 2017. "Childhood Family Structure and Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(2), pages 541-569, April.
    5. Bram Hogendoorn, 2022. "Why do Socioeconomic Differences in Women’s Living Standards Converge After Union Dissolution?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(3), pages 577-622, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intergenerational earnings mobility; divorce; gender differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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