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Intergenerational Effects in Sweden: What Can We Learn from Adoption Data?

Author

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  • Björklund, Anders

    (SOFI, Stockholm University)

  • Lindahl, Mikael

    (University of Gothenburg)

  • Plug, Erik

    (University of Amsterdam)

Abstract

We explore the adoption data approach to estimating causal effects of parental education and income on the same outcomes of their children. Thanks to a data set drawn from Swedish population registers with detailed information on biological background and history of adoptees, we can test basic assumptions that the adoption strategy relies on. We find that the adoption method survives these tests surprisingly well. Our empirical results suggest that one more year of either mother’s or father’s education raises children’s education by about 0.1 year. Our estimated income elasticities are around 0.1.

Suggested Citation

  • Björklund, Anders & Lindahl, Mikael & Plug, Erik, 2004. "Intergenerational Effects in Sweden: What Can We Learn from Adoption Data?," IZA Discussion Papers 1194, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1194
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    Cited by:

    1. Arnaud Chevalier & Colm Harmon & Vincent O’ Sullivan & Ian Walker, 2013. "The impact of parental income and education on the schooling of their children," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    2. Anders Björklund & Mikael Lindahl & Erik Plug, 2006. "The Origins of Intergenerational Associations: Lessons from Swedish Adoption Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(3), pages 999-1028.
    3. Holmlund, Helena & Lindahl, Mikael & Plug, Erik, 2010. "The Causal Eff ect of Parent’s Schooling on Children’s Schooling," Working Paper Series, Center for Labor Studies 2010:8, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    4. Lindahl, Mikael & Björkegren, Evelina & Palme, Mårten & Simeonova, Emilia, 2016. "Parental Influences on Health and Longevity: Lessons from a Large Sample of Adoptees," IZA Discussion Papers 9688, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Helena Holmlund & Mikael Lindahl & Erik Plug, 2011. "The Causal Effect of Parents' Schooling on Children's Schooling: A Comparison of Estimation Methods," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 615-651, September.
    6. Bauer, Philipp C. & Riphahn, Regina T., 2005. "Heterogenity in the Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment: Evidence from Switzerland on Natives and Second," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 38, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    7. Mihails Hazans & Ija Trapeznikova, 2006. "Access to Secondary Education in Albania: Incentives, Obstacles, and Policy Spillovers," SSE Riga/BICEPS Research Papers 2006-1, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies (BICEPS);Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE Riga).
    8. 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.
    9. Randi Hjalmarsson & Matthew J. Lindquist, 2012. "Like Godfather, Like Son: Exploring the Intergenerational Nature of Crime," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(2), pages 550-582.
    10. Mihails Hazans & Ija Trapeznikova & Olga Rastrigina, 2008. "Ethnic and parental effects on schooling outcomes before and during the transition: evidence from the Baltic countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 21(3), pages 719-749, July.
    11. Nekby, Lena & Özcan, Gülay, 2007. "Do Domestic Educations Even Out the Playing Field? Ethnic Labor Market Gaps in Sweden," SULCIS Working Papers 2007:3, Stockholm University, Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS.
    12. Marte E. S. Ulvestad & Simen Markussen, 2023. "Born or bred? The roles of nature and nurture for intergenerational persistence in labour market outcomes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 1005-1047, April.
    13. Hjalmarsson, Randi & Lindquist, Matthew J., 2013. "The origins of intergenerational associations in crime: Lessons from Swedish adoption data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 68-81.
    14. Bruce Sacerdote, 2004. "What Happens When We Randomly Assign Children to Families?," NBER Working Papers 10894, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Haoming Liu & Jinli Zeng, 2009. "Genetic ability and intergenerational earnings mobility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(1), pages 75-95, January.
    16. Evelina Björkegren & Mikael Lindahl & Mårten Palme & Emilia Simeonova, 2022. "Pre- and Post-Birth Components of Intergenerational Persistence in Health and Longevity: Lessons from a Large Sample of Adoptees," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(1), pages 112-142.
    17. Jencks, Christopher & Tach, Laura, 2005. "Would Equal Opportunity Mean More Mobility?," Working Paper Series rwp05-037, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    18. Björklund, Anders, 2006. "Family Background and Outcomes Later in Life: A (Partial and Personal) Survey of Recent Research Using Swedish Register Data," Working Paper Series 4/2007, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    19. Nicolas Fleury & Fabrice Gilles, 2015. "A meta-regression analysis on intergenerational transmission of education: publication bias and genuine empirical effect," TEPP Working Paper 2015-02, TEPP.
    20. Nicolas Fleury & Fabrice Gilles, 2018. "The intergenerational transmission of education. A meta-regression analysis," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 557-573, November.
    21. Maximilian Schwefer, 2018. "Birth Order Effects and Educational Achievement in the Developing World," ifo Working Paper Series 282, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    22. de Walque, Damien, 2005. "Parental education and children's schooling outcomes : is the effect nature, nurture, or both? evidence from recomposed families in Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3483, The World Bank.
    23. Ulrik H. Nielsen, 2014. "Parents' Education and their Adult Offspring's Other-Regarding Behavour," Discussion Papers 14-03, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    intergenerational effects; income; education; adoption data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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