Dynastic Human Capital, Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility

Adrian Adermon, Mikael Lindahl and Mårten Palme

No 12300, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study the importance of the extended family – the dynasty – for the persistence in inequality across generations. We use data including the entire Swedish population, linking four generations. This data structure enables us to identify parents' siblings and cousins, their spouses, and the spouses' siblings. Using various human capital measures, we show that traditional parent-child estimates of intergenerational persistence miss almost one-third of the persistence found at the dynasty level. To assess the importance of genetic links, we use a sample of adoptees. We then find that the importance of the extended family relative to the parents increases.

Keywords: extended family; intergenerational mobility; dynasty; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2019-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-evo, nep-gro and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: American Economic Review, 2021, 111 (5), 1523-48

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Related works:
Journal Article: Dynastic Human Capital, Inequality, and Intergenerational Mobility (2021)
Working Paper: Dynastic human capital, inequality and intergenerational mobility (2019)
Working Paper: Dynastic Human Capital, Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility (2019)
Working Paper: Dynastic Human Capital, Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility (2019)
Working Paper: Dynastic human capital, inequality and intergenerational mobility (2016)
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