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Following in Your Father's Footsteps: A Note on the Intergenerational Transmission of Income between Twin Fathers and their Sons

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  • Amin, Vikesh

    (Central Michigan University)

  • Lundborg, Petter

    (Lund University)

  • Rooth, Dan-Olof

    (Stockholm University)

Abstract

We provide the first twin-based estimates of the intergenerational transmission of income between fathers and sons. Using Swedish register data on the income of monozygotic twin fathers and their sons, we are able to control for unobserved endowments at the twin-pair level when estimating the intergenerational relationship. We find a cross-sectional intergenerational income elasticity of 0.276, while our twin-based intergenerational income elasticity is 0.12. This is close to the estimate of 0.10 found by Björklund et al. (2006) using an adoption design. This suggests that at most half of the income transmission can be given a causal interpretation.

Suggested Citation

  • Amin, Vikesh & Lundborg, Petter & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2011. "Following in Your Father's Footsteps: A Note on the Intergenerational Transmission of Income between Twin Fathers and their Sons," IZA Discussion Papers 5990, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5990
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anders Björklund & Mikael Lindahl & Erik Plug, 2006. "The Origins of Intergenerational Associations: Lessons from Swedish Adoption Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(3), pages 999-1028.
    2. Helena Holmlund & Mikael Lindahl & Erik Plug, 2011. "The Causal Effect of Parents' Schooling on Children's Schooling: A Comparison of Estimation Methods," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 615-651, September.
    3. Björklund, Anders & Jäntti, Markus & Lindquist, Matthew J., 2009. "Family background and income during the rise of the welfare state: Brother correlations in income for Swedish men born 1932-1968," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(5-6), pages 671-680, June.
    4. Haoming Liu & Jinli Zeng, 2009. "Genetic ability and intergenerational earnings mobility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(1), pages 75-95, January.
    5. Anders Bohlmark & Matthew J. Lindquist, 2006. "Life-Cycle Variations in the Association between Current and Lifetime Income: Replication and Extension for Sweden," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(4), pages 879-900, October.
    6. Bruce Sacerdote, 2007. "How Large are the Effects from Changes in Family Environment? A Study of Korean American Adoptees," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 119-157.
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    Cited by:

    1. Pieter Serneels & Stefan Dercon, 2021. "Aspirations, Poverty, and Education. Evidence from India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(1), pages 163-183, January.
    2. Michelle M. Miller & Frank McIntyre, 2020. "Does Money Matter for Intergenerational Income Transmission?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(3), pages 941-970, January.
    3. Monique De Haan & Magnus Stubhaug, 2024. "The Causal Component in the Intergenerational Transmission of Income," CESifo Working Paper Series 11395, CESifo.
    4. Petter Lundborg & Martin Nordin & Dan Olof Rooth, 2018. "The intergenerational transmission of human capital: the role of skills and health," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(4), pages 1035-1065, October.
    5. Gerdtham, Ulf-G & Lundborg, Petter & Lyttkens, Carl Hampus & Nystedt, Paul, 2012. "Do Socioeconomic Factors Really Explain Income-Related Inequalities in Health? Applying a Twin Design to Standard Decomposition Analysis," Working Papers 2012:21, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    6. Lundborg, Petter & Nordin, Martin & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2011. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital: Exploring the Role of Skills and Health Using Data on Adoptees and Twins," IZA Discussion Papers 6099, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Cardak, Buly A. & Johnston, David W. & Martin, Vance L., 2013. "Intergenerational earnings mobility: A new decomposition of investment and endowment effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 39-47.
    8. Björklund, Anders & Jäntti, Markus, 2012. "How important is family background for labor-economic outcomes?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 465-474.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    twins; income; intergenerational transmission; intergenerational mobility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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