Social Mobility in Sweden Before the Welfare State

Thor Berger and Eriksson, Björn
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Jakob Molinder

No 16595, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We use historical census data to show that Sweden exhibited high levels of intergenerational occupational mobility several decades before the rise of the welfare state. Mobility rates were higher than in other 19th- and 20th-century European countries, closer to those observed in the highly mobile 19th-century United States. We leverage mobility variation across Swedish municipalities to shed light on potential determinants: economic growth and migration are positively correlated with mobility, consistent with the patterns observed across countries.

Keywords: Intergenerational mobility; Sweden; Welfare state (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 J62 N33 N34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-10
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Social Mobility in Sweden before the Welfare State (2023)
Working Paper: Social Mobility in Sweden Before the Welfare State (2021)
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