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Like father like son? Intergenerational immobility in England, 1851-1911

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  • Zhu, Ziming

Abstract

This paper uses a linked sample of between 67,000 and 160,000 father-son pairs in 1851-1911 to provide revised estimates of intergenerational occupational mobility in England. After correcting for classical measurement errors using instrumental variables, I find that conventional estimates of intergenerational elasticities could severely underestimate the extent of father-son association in socioeconomic status. Instrumenting one measure of the father’s outcome with a second measure of the father’s outcome raises the intergenerational elasticities (β) of occupational status from 0.4 to 0.6-0.7. Victorian England was therefore a society of limited social mobility. The implications of my results for long-run evolution and international comparisons of social mobility in England are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhu, Ziming, 2022. "Like father like son? Intergenerational immobility in England, 1851-1911," Economic History Working Papers 117588, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:117588
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social mobility; intergenerational mobility; nineteenth century; England;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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