Abstract
Most previous studies of intergenerational transmission of human capital are restricted to two generations: how parents influence their children. In this study, we use a Swedish data set that links individual measures of lifetime earnings for three generations and data on educational attainment for four generations. We find that estimates obtained from data on two generations severely underestimate long-run intergenerational persistence in both labor earnings and educational attainments. Long-run social mobility is hence much lower than previously thought. We attribute this additional persistence to “dynastic human capital”—the influence on human capital of more distant family members than parents.
- Received December 2012.
- Accepted January 2014.
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In this issue
Jump to section
- Article
- Abstract
- I. Introduction
- II. Measuring Long-Term Intergenerational Mobility
- III. Data and Descriptive Statistics
- IV. Results
- V. Why Do We Find Evidence of Such High Long-Run Intergenerational Persistence?
- VI. Conclusions
- Appendix 1 The City of Malmö
- Appendix 2 How Representative is the Malmö Data?
- Appendix 3 Gender and Intergenerational Transmission
- Footnotes
- References
- Figures & Data
- Info & Metrics
- References