RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 When Measure Matters: Coresidency, Truncation Bias, and Intergenerational Mobility in Developing Countries
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 0216-7737R1
DO 10.3368/jhr.53.3.0216-7737R1
A1 M. Shahe Emran
A1 William Greene
A1 Forhad Shilpi
YR 2017
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2017/04/18/jhr.53.3.0216-7737R1.abstract
AB Biases from truncation caused by coresidency restriction have been a challenge for research on intergenerational mobility. Estimates of intergenerational schooling persistence from two data sets show that the intergenerational regression coefficient, the most widely used measure, is severely biased downward in coresident samples. But the bias in intergenerational correlation is much smaller, and is less sensitive to the coresidency rate. The paper provides explanations for these results. Comparison of intergenerational mobility based on the intergenerational regression coefficient across countries, gender, and over time can be misleading. Much progress on intergenerational mobility in developing countries can be made with the available data by focusing on intergenerational correlation.