Activate Activate Activate
contact  
Hello. Sign in to personalize your visit. New user? Register now.  

In
By author
Review of Economics and Statistics

Quarterly (February, May, August, November)
189 pp. per issue, 8 1/2 x 11
Founded: 1917
ISSN 0034-6535
E-ISSN 1530-9142
2008 ISI Impact Factor: 2.233

Review of Economics and Statistics

May 2005, Vol. 87, No. 2, Pages 235-255
Posted Online March 13, 2006.
(doi:10.1162/0034653053970249)
© 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Fortunate Sons: New Estimates of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States Using Social Security Earnings Data

Bhashkar Mazumder

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

PDF (486.271 KB) PDF Plus (274.005 KB)

Previous studies, relying on short-term averages of fathers' earnings, have estimated the intergenerational elasticity (IGE) in earnings to be approximately 0.4. Due to persistent transitory fluctuations, these estimates have been biased down by approximately 30% or more. Using administrative data containing the earnings histories of parents and children, the IGE is estimated to be around 0.6. This suggests that the United States is substantially less mobile than previous research indicated. Estimates of intergenerational mobility are significantly lower for families with little or no wealth, offering empirical support for theoretical models that predict differences due to borrowing constraints.

Cited by

Mårten Palme, Sofia Sandgren. (2008) Parental Income, Lifetime Income, and Mortality. Journal of the European Economic Association 6:4, 890-911
Online publication date: 1-Jun-2008.
Abstract | PDF (270 KB) | PDF Plus (158 KB) 

Technology Partner - Atypon Systems, Inc.
  CrossRef member COUNTER member