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Intergenerational Wealth Mobility in Rural Bangladesh

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  • Asadullah, Niaz

    (University of Reading)

Abstract

Unique residential history data with retrospective information on parental assets are used to study household wealth mobility in 141 villages in rural Bangladesh. Regression estimates of father-son correlations and analyses of intergenerational transition matrices show substantial persistence in wealth even when we correct for measurement errors in parental wealth. We do not find wealth mobility to be higher between periods of a person's life than between generations. We find that the process of household division plays an important role: sons who splinter off from the father's household experience greater (albeit downward) mobility in wealth. Despite significant occupational mobility across generations, its contribution to wealth mobility, net of human capital attainment of individuals, appears insignificant. Low wealth mobility in our data is primarily explained by intergenerational persistence in educational attainment.

Suggested Citation

  • Asadullah, Niaz, 2011. "Intergenerational Wealth Mobility in Rural Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 5914, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5914
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    2. Gu, Xiang & Hua, Sheng & McKenzie, Tom & Zheng, Yanqiao, 2022. "Like father, like son? Parental input, access to higher education, and social mobility in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Francesco Pastore, 2016. "‘I Wish I Had 100 Dollars a Month …’ The Determinants of Poverty in Mongolia," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 28(5), pages 934-956, November.
    4. Doruk, Ömer Tuğsal & Pastore, Francesco & Yavuz, Hasan Bilgehan, 2022. "Intergenerational mobility: An assessment for Latin American countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 141-157.
    5. Rishi Kumar, 2022. "Household poverty dynamics in tribal Madhya Pradesh, India: A case study of 54 villages," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(2), pages 184-203, June.
    6. Khiem, Phuong Huu & Linh, Dinh Hong & Tai, Do Anh & Dung, Nguyen Dac, 2020. "Does tuition fee policy reform encourage poor children’s school enrolment? Evidence from Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 109-124.
    7. Asadullah, Mohammad Niaz & Chaudhury, Nazmul, 2012. "Subjective well-being and relative poverty in rural Bangladesh," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 940-950.
    8. Andrew Foster & Sveta Milusheva, 2015. "Household Recombination, Retrospective Evaluation, and the Effects of a Health and Family Planning Intervention," Working Papers id:7183, eSocialSciences.
    9. Emran,M. Shahe & Sun,Yan - GSP05, 2015. "Are the children of uneducated farmers doubly disadvantaged ? farm, nonfarm and intergenerational educational mobility in rural China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7459, The World Bank.
    10. Hlasny, Vladimir & Alazzawi, Shireen, 2022. "Socioeconomic Mobility of Return Migrants: Evidence from Jordanian Labor Market Surveys," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 56(3), pages 145-164.
    11. Zafar, Rafia, 2022. "Intergenerational Mobility in Income and Consumption: Evidence from Indonesia," SocArXiv uzcfs, Center for Open Science.
    12. Dang, Thang, 2015. "Intergenerational mobility of earnings and income among sons and daughters in Vietnam," MPRA Paper 75357, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Emran, M. Shahe & Greene, William H & Shilpi, Forhad, 2015. "When measure matters: coresident sample selection bias in estimating intergenerational mobility in developing countries," MPRA Paper 65920, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Emran, M. Shahe & Sun, Yan, 2014. "Are the Children of Uneducated Farmers Doubly Doomed? Farm, Nonfarm and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in Rural China," MPRA Paper 59230, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Bevis, Leah E.M. & Barrett, Christopher B., 2015. "Decomposing Intergenerational Income Elasticity: The Gender-differentiated Contribution of Capital Transmission in Rural Philippines," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 233-252.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    transition matrix; schooling mobility; occupational mobility; household wealth; intergenerational inequality; Bangladesh;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

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