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Persistence Despite Revolutions

Author

Listed:
  • Alberto F. Alesina
  • Marlon Seror
  • David Y. Yang
  • Yang You
  • Weihong Zeng

Abstract

Can efforts to eradicate inequality in wealth and education eliminate intergenerational persistence of socioeconomic status? The Chinese Communist Revolution and Cultural Revolution aimed to do exactly that. Using newly digitized archival records and contemporary census and household survey data, we show that the revolutions were effective in homogenizing the population economically in the short run. However, the pattern of inequality that characterized the pre-revolution generation re-emerges today. Almost half a century after the revolutions, individuals whose grandparents belonged to the pre-revolution elite earn 16 percent more income and have completed more than 11 percent additional years of schooling than those from non-elite households. We find evidence that human capital (such as knowledge, skills, and values) has been transmitted within the families, and the social capital embodied in kinship networks has survived the revolutions. These channels allow the pre-revolution elite to rebound after the revolutions, and their socioeconomic status persists despite one of the most aggressive attempts to eliminate differences in the population.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto F. Alesina & Marlon Seror & David Y. Yang & Yang You & Weihong Zeng, 2020. "Persistence Despite Revolutions," NBER Working Papers 27053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27053
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. José García-Montalvo & Marta Reynal-Querol, 2020. "Colonization, Early Settlers and Development: The Case of Latin America," Working Papers 1189, Barcelona School of Economics.
    2. Felipe González & María Angélica Bautista, & Luis R. Martínez & Pablo Muñoz & Mounu Prem, 2020. "Chile’s Missing Students: Dictatorship, Higher Education and Social Mobility," Documentos de Trabajo 542, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    3. Elisa Jácome & Ilyana Kuziemko & Suresh Naidu, 2021. "Mobility for All: Representative Intergenerational Mobility Estimates over the 20th Century," Working Papers 302, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    4. Bautista, María Angélica & González, Felipe & Martinez, Luis R. & Muñoz, Pablo & Prem, Mounu, 2020. "Dictatorship, Higher Education, and Social Mobility," SocArXiv 6st9r, Center for Open Science.
    5. José Garcia Montalvo & Marta Reynal-Querol, 2020. "Colonization, early settlers and development: The case of Latin America," Economics Working Papers 1729, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N15 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Asia including Middle East
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

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