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Switzer-Land of Opportunity:Intergenerational Income Mobility in the Land of Vocational Education

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  • Chuard, Patrick
  • Grassi, Veronica

Abstract

This paper documents intergenerational income mobility in Switzerland. We use a unique administrative data set which links the universe of labor incomes since 1982 over generations and is matched to census and survey data. We find that relative income mobility in terms of rank-rank slope (0.15) is substantially higher than in the US and even higher than in Sweden. At the same time, we find that (academic) educational mobility is low. This shows that high income mobility can be achieved even without high educational mobility. However, to reach the top from the bottom («American Dream»), academic education is still key: Children from the bottom quintile who went to gymnasium or got a master's degree are more likely to reach the top quintile compared to their peers in the vocational education track. Looking at regional variation in mobility, we find lower absolute, but higher relative mobility in French- and Italiancompared to German-speaking areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Chuard, Patrick & Grassi, Veronica, 2020. "Switzer-Land of Opportunity:Intergenerational Income Mobility in the Land of Vocational Education," Economics Working Paper Series 2011, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:usg:econwp:2020:11
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Koeniger, Winfried & Zanella, Carlo, 2022. "Opportunity and inequality across generations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    2. Dodin, Majed & Findeisen, Sebastian & Henkel, Lukas & Sachs, Dominik & Schüle, Paul, 2024. "Social mobility in Germany," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    3. Paul Schüle, 2023. "Career Preferences and Socio-Economic Background," ifo Working Paper Series 395, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    4. Gustave Kenedi & Louis Sirugue, 2021. "The Anatomy of Intergenerational Income Mobility in France and its Spatial Variations," Working Papers halshs-03455282, HAL.
    5. Bühler, Jonas & Schaltegger, Christoph A. & Häner, Melanie, 2024. "Social Persistence and its drivers - An Analysis of Sibling Correlation in Switzerland," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302378, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Robert Manduca & Maximilian Hell & Adrian Adermon & Jo Blanden & Espen Bratberg & Anne C. Gielen & Hans van Kippersluis & Keunbok Lee & Stephen Machin & Martin D. Munk & Martin Nybom & Yuri Ostrovsky , 2024. "Measuring Absolute Income Mobility: Lessons from North America and Europe," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 1-30, April.
    7. Uschi Backes-Gellner & Patrick Lehnert, 2021. "The Contribution of Vocational Education and Training to Innovation and Growth," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0177, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    8. Gustave Kenedi & Louis Sirugue, 2021. "The Anatomy of Intergenerational Income Mobility in France and its Spatial Variations," PSE Working Papers halshs-03455282, HAL.
    9. Li, Hongbin & Meng, Lingsheng & Mu, Kai & Wang, Shaoda, 2024. "English language requirement and educational inequality: Evidence from 16 million college applicants in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social mobility; intergenerational income mobility; inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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