Intergenerational income persistence within families

Chris Belfield (), Claire Crawford (), Ellen Greaves (), Paul Gregg and Lindsey Macmillan ()
Additional contact information
Chris Belfield: Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies
Claire Crawford: Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Birmingham

No W17/11, IFS Working Papers from Institute for Fiscal Studies

Abstract: There is substantial evidence of a significant relationship between parents’ income and sons’ earnings in the UK, and that this relationship has strengthened over time. We extend this by exploring a broader measure of net family income as an outcome. In doing so, we uncover three additional trends in social mobility. Partnership, and the level of earnings from any partner, are increasingly related to family background. The progressive direct tax and benefit system in the UK acts to offset intergenerational income persistence and has a stronger effect for the later cohort. Finally, men from higher-income backgrounds are significantly more likely than those from lower-income backgrounds to be in paid work and hence have higher incomes. Including out-of-work men in the analysis increases the estimates of intergenerational income persistence.

Keywords: income; inequality; intergenerational (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-08-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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