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Parental Education and the Rising Transmission of Income between Generations

Author

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  • Marie Connolly

    (Department of Economics, University of Quebec in Montreal)

  • Catherine Haeck

    (Department of Economics, University of Quebec in Montreal)

  • Jean-William Laliberte

    (Department of Economics, University of Calgary)

Abstract

Intergenerational mobility has decreased over time for the cohorts of children born between the 1960s and the 1980s in Canada. At the same time, returns to education have gone up. Both factors have contributed to exacerbating income gaps between children of parents with and without secondary education. However, the transmission of residual parental income differences that cannot be accounted for by differences in educational attainment have increased at a faster rate than overall intergenerational income transmission. In addition, overall income mobility has shrunk less in communities that have experienced greater increases in parental high school completion rates over time. There is no significant relationship with changes in university education. Overall, these patterns suggest that fostering high school completion may help slow down the worsening of intergenerational income mobility.

Suggested Citation

  • Marie Connolly & Catherine Haeck & Jean-William Laliberte, 2020. "Parental Education and the Rising Transmission of Income between Generations," Working Papers 20-05, Research Group on Human Capital, University of Quebec in Montreal's School of Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:grc:wpaper:20-05
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Uguccioni, James, 2022. "The long-run effects of parental unemployment in childhood," CLEF Working Paper Series 45, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    2. Marie Connolly & Catherine Haeck & Lucie Raymond-Brousseau, 2022. "La mobilité sociale au Québec selon différents parcours universitaires," CIRANO Project Reports 2022rp-12, CIRANO.
    3. Ulrika Ahrsjö & René Karadakic & Joachim Kahr Rasmussen, 2021. "Intergenerational Mobility Trends and the Changing Role of Female Labor," CEBI working paper series 21-19, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social mobility; intergenerational income transmission; income inequality; education; Canada;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education

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