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Economic Interpretations of Intergenerational Correlations

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Author Info
Nathan D. Grawe
Casey B. Mulligan

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Abstract

Economic theory offers interpretations of intergenerational correlations that are different from the theories of other disciplines, and have important policy implications. Our paper presents a subset of those theories, and shows how they are consistent with observed mobility patterns as they vary across countries, demographic groups, and economic status measure. The data may suggest that the economic approach overemphasizes credit constraints, although more work is needed to further develop some of the alternative economic models. We also show how, in the models, 'progressive' policy may reduce mobility depending on how the policy is administered and how mobility is measured.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 8948.

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Date of creation: May 2002
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8948

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Hiroshi Sato & Li Shi, 2008. "Class Origin, Family Culture, and Intergenerational Correlation of Education in Rural China," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd08-007, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. [Downloadable!]
  2. Raouf, BOUCEKKINE, 2007. "A theory of dynamics and inequalities under epidemics," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2007022, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Hans-Peter Klös & Axel Plünnecke, 2003. "Human Capital Formation in Germany: An Untapped Potential," CESifo DICE Report, Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 1(4), pages 39-45, 02. [Downloadable!]
  4. Erik Plug, 2004. "Estimating the Effect of Mother's Schooling on Children's Schooling Using a Sample of Adoptees," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 358-368, March. [Downloadable!]
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    Other versions:
  6. Raouf BOUCEKKINE & Jean-Pierre LAFFARGUE, 2009. "On the Distributional Consequences of Epidemics," Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) 2009012, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES). [Downloadable!]
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  7. Raouf Boucekkine & Raouf Boucekkine, 2006. "Medium term dynamics and inequalities under epidemics," Computing in Economics and Finance 2006 209, Society for Computational Economics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Avichai Snir & Daniel Levy, 2005. "Popular Perceptions and Political Economy in the Contrived World of Harry Potter," Others 0509012, EconWPA, revised 04 Jan 2006. [Downloadable!]
  9. Jason Long & Joseph Ferrie, 2005. "A Tale of Two Labor Markets: Intergenerational Occupational Mobility in Britain and the U.S. Since 1850," NBER Working Papers 11253, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Bhalotra, S & Rawlings, S, 2009. "Gradients of the Intergenerational Transmission of Health in Developing Countries," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/13, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Avichai Snir & Daniel Levy, 2005. "Abracadabra! Social Norms and Public Perceptions through Harry Potter’s Looking Glasses," Emory Economics 0528, Department of Economics, Emory University (Atlanta). [Downloadable!]
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  15. Plug, Erik, 2002. "How Do Parents Raise the Educational Attainment of Future Generations?," IZA Discussion Papers 652, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  17. Holmlund, Helena & Lindahl, Mikael & Plug, Erik, 2008. "The Causal Effect of Parent’s Schooling on Children’s Schooling: A Comparison of Estimation Methods," IZA Discussion Papers 3630, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  18. 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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  19. Hiroshi Sato & Li Shi, 2007. "Revolution and Family in Rural China: Influence of Family Background on Current Family Wealth," IZA Discussion Papers 3223, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  20. 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)
  21. Olivier Charlot & Bruno Decreuse, 2006. "Over-education for the rich vs under-education for the poor: a search-theoretic microfoundation," Working Papers halshs-00409583_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
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