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Fortunate Sons: New Estimates of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States Using Social Security Earnings Data

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Author Info
Bhashkar Mazumder (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago)
Abstract

Previous studies, relying on short-term averages of fathers' earnings, have estimated the intergenerational elasticity (IGE) in earnings to be approximately 0.4. Due to persistent transitory fluctuations, these estimates have been biased down by approximately 30% or more. Using administrative data containing the earnings histories of parents and children, the IGE is estimated to be around 0.6. This suggests that the United States is substantially less mobile than previous research indicated. Estimates of intergenerational mobility are significantly lower for families with little or no wealth, offering empirical support for theoretical models that predict differences due to borrowing constraints. Copyright (c) 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/0034653053970249
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Article provided by MIT Press in its journal Review of Economics and Statistics.

Volume (Year): 87 (2005)
Issue (Month): 2 (07)
Pages: 235-255
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Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:87:y:2005:i:2:p:235-255

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  3. Thorsten Vogel, 2006. "Reassessing Intergenerational Mobility in Germany and the United States: The Impact of Differences in Lifecycle Earnings Patterns," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2006-055, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Oddbjørn Raaum & Bernt Bratsberg & Knut Røed & Eva Österbacka & Tor Eriksson & Markus Jäntti & Robin Naylor, 2007. "Marital Sorting, Household Labor Supply, and Intergenerational Earnings Mobility across Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 3037, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  6. Cheti Nicoletti & Marco Francesconi, 2006. "Intergenerational mobility and sample selection in short panels," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(8), pages 1265-1293. [Downloadable!]
  7. Irene YH Ng & Xiaoyi Shen & Kong Weng Ho, 2008. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility in Singapore and the United States," Economic Growth centre Working Paper Series 0803, Nanyang Technolgical University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Economic Growth centre. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Frankel, David M., 2007. "How Does Family Structure Affect Children’s Outcomes? Evidence from the Civil War," Staff General Research Papers 12819, Iowa State University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Ramses Abul Naga, 2008. "Biases of the ordinary least squares and instrumental variables estimators of the intergenerational earnings elasticity: Revisited in the light of panel data," Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 323-350, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Bratsberg,Bernt & Røed, Knut & Raaum, Oddbjørn & Naylor, Robin & Jäntti, Markus & Eriksson, Tor & Österbacka, Eva, 2007. "Nonlinearities in Intergenerational Earnings Mobility : Consequences for Cross-Country Comparisons," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 782, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Donal O’Neill & Olive Sweetman & Dirk Van de gaer, 2007. "The effects of measurement error and omitted variables when using transition matrices to measure intergenerational mobility," Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 159-178, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Pfeiffer, Friedhelm & Eisenhauer, Philipp, 2008. "Assessing Intergenerational Earnings Persistence Among German Workers," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-014, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  14. Nilsen, Øivind Anti & Vaage, Kjell & Aakvik, Arild & Jacobsen, Karl, 2008. "Estimates of Intergenerational Elasticities Based on Lifetime Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 3709, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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