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Intergenerational mobility and institutional change in 20th century China

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  • Chen, Yuyu
  • Naidu, Suresh
  • Yu, Tinghua
  • Yuchtman, Noam

Abstract

We examine the persistence of socioeconomic status across generations, measured by educational attainment, among urban Chinese born between 1930 and 1985. The persistence of status follows a pronounced, robust U-shaped pattern, falling among cohorts educated following the Communist revolution of 1949, and rising among cohorts educated following the reforms of the late 1970s. The pattern is not driven by the Cultural Revolution or by changing associations between education and income. The Ushape also appears in complementary datasets covering rural China. We discuss the policies behind a non-monotonic relationship between educational expansion and social mobility across the institutional regimes we study.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Yuyu & Naidu, Suresh & Yu, Tinghua & Yuchtman, Noam, 2015. "Intergenerational mobility and institutional change in 20th century China," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91511, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:91511
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    Cited by:

    1. Lou, Jing & Li, Jie, 2022. "Export expansion and intergenerational education mobility: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. Shiqi Jiang & Lingli Qi & Xinyue Lin, 2022. "The Impacts of COVID-19 Shock on Intergenerational Income Mobility: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Bautista, María Angélica & González, Felipe & Martínez, Luis R. & Muñoz, Pablo & Prem, Mounu, 2023. "The intergenerational transmission of higher education: Evidence from the 1973 coup in Chile," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    4. Guo, Yumei & Song, Yang & Chen, Qianmiao, 2019. "Impacts of education policies on intergenerational education mobility in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 124-142.
    5. Yu, Yewen & Fan, Yi & Yi, Junjian, 2020. "The One-Child Policy Amplifies Economic Inequality across Generations in China," IZA Discussion Papers 13617, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Xiao, Yun & Li, Li & Zhao, Liqiu, 2017. "Education on the cheap: The long-run effects of a free compulsory education reform in rural china," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 544-562.
    7. Liu, Yang & Yang, Yaowu, 2022. "New “useless education theory”: Highly educated parents' expectations for their children's education—Evidence from the one-child policy," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Roy van der Weide & Ambar Narayan, 2019. "China and the United States: Different economic models but similarly low levels of socioeconomic mobility," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-121, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Zehua Jiang & Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, 2024. "Intergenerational Mobility and Inequality in China: Evidence from the Chinese Household Income Project," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 248(1), pages 73-90, March.
    10. Junwu, Xu & Zhaoxiong, Chen & Junjie, Wu, 2022. "Return of migrant workers, educational investment in children and intergenerational mobility in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 997-1009.
    11. Florencia Torche, 2019. "Educational mobility in developing countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-88, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Weibo Yan & Xiaolan Deng, 2022. "Intergenerational income mobility and transmission channels in a transition economy: Evidence from China," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 183-207, January.
    13. Lijie Song, 2021. "Does Public Investment Promote Intergenerational Mobility? Who Really Benefits?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 59-80, November.
    14. FAN, Yi, 2016. "Intergenerational income persistence and transmission mechanism: Evidence from urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 299-314.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social mobility; China; economic transition; educational policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty

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