Cultural Inheritance, Gender, and Intergenerational Occupational Mobility: Evidence from a Developing Economy

M. Shahe Emran and Forhad Shilpi

Working Papers from The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy

Abstract: This paper presents evidence on intergenerational occupational mobility from agriculture to the nonfarm sector using survey data from Nepal with a focus on the role played by cultural inheritance and gender norms. In the absence of credible instruments, the degree of selection on observables is used as a guide to the degree of selection on unobservables a la Altonji et. al. (2005) to address the unobserved genetic correlations. The results show that cultural inheritance plays a causal role in intergenerational occupational correlation between the mother and daughter. In contrast, there is no robust evidence that cultural inheritance is important for sons occupation choice. A moderate genetic correlation can easily explain away the estimated partial correlation in non-farm participation between the father and a son.

Keywords: Intergenerational Occupational Correlations; Non-Farm Participation; Gender effect; Cultural Inheritance; Selection on Observables; Selection on Unobservables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J62 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2008-12
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2008-12

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