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Intergenerational mobility and equal opportunity, evidence from Finland

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  • Ilpo Suoniemi

    (Palkansaajien tutkimuslaitos)

Abstract

Register based Finnish data are used to study intergenerational mobility. The conditional expectation of child income rank given parent income is linear in percentile ranks over most of the income range. On average, a 10 percentile increase in parent income rank is associated with a 2.2 percentile increase in a child’s income rank, somewhat higher than in the Scandinavian countries. At the top of parent income distribution, we observe relatively more immobility and enhanced educational outcomes. Second, there is some variation in intergenerational mobility across NUTS level 3 regions within Finland. Third, we explore the factors correlated with upward mobility. The results suggest that regions with high relative (absolute) intergenerational mobility have less income inequality in gross or disposable (factor) income.

Suggested Citation

  • Ilpo Suoniemi, 2017. "Intergenerational mobility and equal opportunity, evidence from Finland," Working Papers 312, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    • Handle: RePEc:pst:wpaper:312
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    Cited by:

    1. Martti Kaila & Emily Nix & Krista Riukula, 2021. "Disparate Impacts of Job Loss by Parental Income and Implications for Intergenerational Mobility," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 53, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    inequality; intergenerational mobility; regional analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H0 - Public Economics - - General
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis

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