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Moving Towards Estimating Lifetime Intergenerational Economic Mobility in the UK

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  • Paul Gregg

    (Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath)

  • Lindsey Macmillan

    (Department of Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Education)

  • Claudia Vittori

    (Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath)

Abstract

Estimates of intergenerational economic mobility that use point in time measures of income and earnings suffer from lifecycle and attenuation bias. We consider these issues for the National Child Development Study (NCDS) and British Cohort Study (BCS) for the first time, highlighting how common methods used to deal with these biases do not eradicate these issues. To attempt to overcome this, we offer the first estimates of lifetime intergenerational economic mobility for the UK. In doing so, we discuss a third potential bias, regularly ignored in the literature, driven by spells out of work. When all three biases are considered, our best estimate of lifetime intergenerational economic persistence in the UK is 0.43, significantly higher than previously thought. We discuss why there is good reason to believe that this is still a lower bound.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Gregg & Lindsey Macmillan & Claudia Vittori, 2014. "Moving Towards Estimating Lifetime Intergenerational Economic Mobility in the UK," DoQSS Working Papers 14-12, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    • Handle: RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1412
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    Cited by:

    1. Jo Blanden, 2019. "Intergenerational income persistence," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 176-176, January.
    2. Paul Gregg & Lindsey Macmillan & Claudia Vittori, 2017. "Moving Towards Estimating Sons' Lifetime Intergenerational Economic Mobility in the UK," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(1), pages 79-100, February.
    3. Raitano Michele & Vona Francesco, 2018. "From the Cradle to the Grave: The Influence of Family Background on the Career Path of Italian Men," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(6), pages 1062-1088, December.
    4. Martin Nybom & Jan Stuhler, 2017. "Biases in Standard Measures of Intergenerational Income Dependence," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(3), pages 800-825.
    5. Paul Gregg & Lindsey Macmillan & Claudia Vittori, 2015. "Nonlinear Estimation of Lifetime Intergenerational Economic Mobility and the Role of Education," DoQSS Working Papers 15-03, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    6. Bhashkar Mazumder, 2015. "Estimating the Intergenerational Elasticity and Rank Association in the U.S.: Overcoming the Current Limitations of Tax Data," Working Paper Series WP-2015-4, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    7. John Jerrim & Álvaro Choi & Rosa Simancas Rodríguez, 2014. "Two-sample two-stage least squares (TSTSLS) estimates of earnings mobility: how consistent are they?," Working Papers 2014/35, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    8. Raitano Michele & Francesco Vona, 2015. "From the cradle to the grave : the effect of family background on the career path of italian men," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2015-05, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    9. Chen, Wen-Hao & Ostrovsky, Yuri & Piraino, Patrizio, 2017. "Lifecycle variation, errors-in-variables bias and nonlinearities in intergenerational income transmission: new evidence from Canada," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-12.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intergenerational mobility; measurement; income inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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