Three-generation Mobility in the United States, 1850-1940: The Role of Maternal and Paternal Grandparents

Claudia Olivetti, M. Daniele Paserman and Laura Salisbury

No 903, Boston College Working Papers in Economics from Boston College Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper estimates intergenerational elasticities across three generations in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We extend the methodology in Olivetti and Paserman (2015) to explore the role of maternal and paternal grandfathers for the transmission of economic status to grandsons and granddaughters. We document three main findings. First, grandfathers matter for income transmission, above and beyond their effect on fathers’ income. Second, the socio-economic status of grandsons is influenced more strongly by paternal grandfathers than by maternal grand- fathers. Third, maternal grandfathers are more important for granddaughters than for grandsons, while the opposite is true for paternal grandfathers. We present a model of multi-trait matching and inheritance that can rationalize these findings.

Keywords: Intergenerational Mobility; Multiple Generations; Gender; Marriage; Assortative Mating (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-01-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Three-generation mobility in the United States, 1850–1940: The role of maternal and paternal grandparents (2018)
Working Paper: Three-generation Mobility in the United States, 1850-1940: The Role of Maternal and Paternal Grandparents (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:boc:bocoec:903

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