IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp14566.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Multigenerational Mobility in India

Author

Listed:
  • Kundu, Anustup

    (University of Helsinki)

  • Sen, Kunal

    (University of Manchester)

Abstract

Most studies of intergenerational mobility focus on adjacent generations, and there is limited knowledge about multigenerational mobility that is, status transmission across three generations. We examine multigenerational educational and occupational mobility in India, using a nationally representative data-set the India Human Development Survey which contains information about education and occupation for three generations. We find that mobility has increased over generations for education, but not for occupation. We also find that there are stark differences across social groups, with individuals belonging to socially disadvantaged communities in India lagging behind in social progress. Multigenerational mobility for Muslims in education and occupation have decreased in comparison to Hindus over the three generations. While we find that there is an increase in educational mobility for other disadvantaged groups such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes compared to General Castes, we do not find evidence of increased occupational mobility over the three generations.

Suggested Citation

  • Kundu, Anustup & Sen, Kunal, 2021. "Multigenerational Mobility in India," IZA Discussion Papers 14566, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14566
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp14566.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anirudh Krishna, 2014. "Examining the Structure of Opportunity and Social Mobility in India: Who Becomes an Engineer?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(1), pages 1-28, January.
    2. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00859751 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Jean Drèze & Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2001. "School Participation in Rural India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 1-24, February.
    4. Hertz Tom & Jayasundera Tamara & Piraino Patrizio & Selcuk Sibel & Smith Nicole & Verashchagina Alina, 2008. "The Inheritance of Educational Inequality: International Comparisons and Fifty-Year Trends," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-48, January.
    5. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Patrick Kline & Emmanuel Saez, 2014. "Where is the land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(4), pages 1553-1623.
    6. Maia Güell & José V. Rodríguez Mora & Gary Solon, 2018. "New Directions in Measuring Intergenerational Mobility: Introduction," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 335-339, July.
    7. Jo Blanden, 2013. "Cross-Country Rankings In Intergenerational Mobility: A Comparison Of Approaches From Economics And Sociology," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 38-73, February.
    8. Mehtabul Azam, 2015. "Intergenerational Occupational Mobility among Men in India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(10), pages 1389-1408, October.
    9. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12594 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. M. Shahe Emran & William Greene & Forhad Shilpi, 2018. "When Measure Matters: Coresidency, Truncation Bias, and Intergenerational Mobility in Developing Countries," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(3), pages 589-607.
    11. Mehtabul Azam & Vipul Bhatt, 2015. "Like Father, Like Son? Intergenerational Educational Mobility in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1929-1959, December.
    12. Gary Solon, 2018. "What Do We Know So Far about Multigenerational Mobility?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 340-352, July.
    13. Alberto Alesina & Sebastian Hohmann & Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2021. "Intergenerational Mobility in Africa," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(1), pages 1-35, January.
    14. Thomas Bossuroy & Denis Cogneau, 2013. "Social Mobility in Five African Countries," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 59, pages 84-110, October.
    15. Corak, Miles & Lindquist, Matthew J. & Mazumder, Bhashkar, 2014. "A comparison of upward and downward intergenerational mobility in Canada, Sweden and the United States," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 185-200.
    16. Ira N. Gang & Kunal Sen & Myeong-Su Yun, 2017. "Is Caste Destiny? Occupational Diversification among Dalits in Rural India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(2), pages 476-492, April.
    17. Viktoria Hnatkovska & Amartya Lahiri & Sourabh B. Paul, 2013. "Breaking the Caste Barrier: Intergenerational Mobility in India," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(2), pages 435-473.
    18. Solon, Gary, 1999. "Intergenerational mobility in the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 29, pages 1761-1800, Elsevier.
    19. Patricia Funjika & Rachel M. Gisselquist, 2020. "Social mobility and inequality between groups," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-12, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Viktoria Hnatkovska & Amartya Lahiri & Sourabh Paul, 2012. "Castes and Labor Mobility," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 274-307, April.
    21. Ambar Narayan & Roy Van der Weide & Alexandru Cojocaru & Christoph Lakner & Silvia Redaelli & Daniel Gerszon Mahler & Rakesh Gupta N. Ramasubbaiah & Stefan Thewissen, 2018. "Fair Progress?," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28428.
    22. Ira N. Gang & Kunal Sen & Myeong‐Su Yun, 2008. "Poverty In Rural India: Caste And Tribe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 54(1), pages 50-70, March.
    23. Jason Long & Joseph Ferrie, 2018. "Grandfathers Matter(ed): Occupational Mobility Across Three Generations in the US and Britain, 1850–1911," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 422-445, July.
    24. Vegard Iversen & Anirudh Krishna & Kunal Sen, 2016. "Rags to riches? Intergenerational occupational mobility in India," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 042016, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    25. Yaojun Li & Yizhang Zhao, 2017. "Double Disadvantages: A Study of Ethnic and Hukou Effects on Class Mobility in China (1996–2014)," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(1), pages 5-19.
    26. Güell, Maia & Rodríguez Mora, José V & Solon, Gary, 2018. "New Directions in Measuring Intergenerational Mobility," CEPR Discussion Papers 12959, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    27. Patricia Funjika & Rachel M. Gisselquist, 2020. "Social mobility and inequality between groups," WIDER Working Paper Series wp2020-12, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    28. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Lawrence F. Katz, 2016. "The Effects of Exposure to Better Neighborhoods on Children: New Evidence from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(4), pages 855-902, April.
    29. Becker, Gary S & Tomes, Nigel, 1979. "An Equilibrium Theory of the Distribution of Income and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1153-1189, December.
    30. Vegard Iversen & Anirudh Krishna & Kunal Sen, 2019. "Beyond Poverty Escapes—Social Mobility in Developing Countries: A Review Article," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 34(2), pages 239-273.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anustup Kundu & Kunal Sen, 2023. "Multigenerational Mobility Among Males in India," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(2), pages 395-418, June.
    2. begard Iversen & Anirudh Krishna & Kunal Sen, 2017. "Beyond poverty escapes – social mobility in the Global South: A survey article," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 172017, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    3. Vegard Iversen, 2020. "Can 'good' social mobility news be 'bad' and vice versa?: Measurement (and downward mobility) pitfalls," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-13, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Chinmayi Srikanth & Shubhasis Dey, 2022. "Multigenerational Persistence and The Great Gatsby Relation for India," Working papers 544, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
    5. Vegard Iversen, 2020. "Can 'good' social mobility news be 'bad' and vice versa? Measurement (and downward mobility) pitfalls," WIDER Working Paper Series wp2020-13, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Alberto Alesina & Sebastian Hohmann & Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2021. "Intergenerational Mobility in Africa," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(1), pages 1-35, January.
    7. Emran, M. Shahe & Jiang, Hanchen & Shilpi, Forhad, 2020. "Gender Bias and Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Theory and Evidence from China and India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 497, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Emran, M. Shahe & Jiang, Hanchen & Shilpi, Forhad, 2021. "Is Gender Destiny? Gender Bias and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 807, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Vinay Reddy Venumuddala, 2020. "Occupational Network Structure and Vector Assortativity for illustrating patterns of social mobility," Papers 2011.04466, arXiv.org.
    10. Chong Lu, 2022. "The effect of migration on rural residents’ intergenerational subjective social status mobility in China," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 3279-3308, October.
    11. Ahsan, Md. Nazmul & Emran, M. Shahe & Jiang, Hanchen & Shilpi, Forhad, 2022. "What the Mean Measures of Mobility Miss: Learning About Intergenerational Mobility from Conditional Variance," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1097, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Théophile T. Azomahou & Eleni Yitbarek, 2021. "Intergenerational mobility in education: Is Africa different?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 503-523, July.
    13. Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. & Yazici, Hakki, 2019. "Intergenerational education mobility and the level of development," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 160-185.
    14. Funjika, Patricia & Getachew, Yoseph Y., 2022. "Colonial origin, ethnicity and intergenerational mobility in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    15. Mehtabul Azam, 2022. "Household income mobility in India, 1993–2011," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 1902-1943, November.
    16. Leone, Tharcisio, 2017. "The gender gap in intergenerational mobility: Evidence of educational persistence in Brazil," Discussion Papers 2017/27, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    17. Tharcisio Leone, 2019. "The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence of Educational Persistence and the “Great Gatsby Curve" in Brazil," Documentos de Trabajo 17526, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA).
    18. Emran, M. Shahe & Ferreira, Francisco & Jiang, Yajing & Sun, Yan, 2019. "Intergenerational Educational Mobility in Rural Economy: Evidence from China and India," MPRA Paper 94121, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Ahsan, Md Nazmul & Emran, M. Shahe & Shilpi, Forhad, 2024. "Complementarities and intergenerational educational mobility: Theory and evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 170-191.
    20. Leone, Tharcisio, 2019. "The geography of intergenerational mobility: Evidence of educational persistence and the "Great Gatsby Curve" in Brazil," GIGA Working Papers 318, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    multigenerational mobility; occupational mobility; educational mobility; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14566. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.