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He's a Chip Off the Old Block: The Persistency of Occupational Choices among Generations

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  • Bodo Knoll
  • Nadine Riedel
  • Eva Schlenker

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to assess if parents exert an influence on the occupation choices of their children. Using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP), we find a high persistency of occupational decisions across fathers and children using nested and conditional logit models. To separate effects related to genetic factors (nature) and parental education or role models (nurture), we determine the persistency separately for children who grew up with their biological fathers and for those who did not. Our results suggest that especially nurture plays a decisive role in explaining the choice of one's occupation.

Suggested Citation

  • Bodo Knoll & Nadine Riedel & Eva Schlenker, 2013. "He's a Chip Off the Old Block: The Persistency of Occupational Choices among Generations," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 561, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp561
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    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.422682.de/diw_sp0561.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Hauk, Esther & Albornoz-Crespo, Facundo, 2014. "Which club should I attend, Dad?: Targeted socialization and production," CEPR Discussion Papers 10321, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Albornoz, Facundo & Cabrales, Antonio & Hauk, Esther, 2016. "Targeted socialization and production," CRETA Online Discussion Paper Series 23, Centre for Research in Economic Theory and its Applications CRETA.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Occupational choice; SOEP; parental educational investment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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