Dynastic Human Capital, Inequality, and Intergenerational Mobility

Adrian Adermon, Mikael Lindahl and Mårten Palme

American Economic Review, 2021, vol. 111, issue 5, 1523-48

Abstract: We estimate long-run intergenerational persistence in human capital using information on outcomes for the extended family: the dynasty. A dataset including the entire Swedish population, linking four generations, allows us to identify parents' siblings and cousins, their spouses, and spouses' siblings. Using various human capital measures, we show that traditional parent-child estimates underestimate long-run intergenerational persistence by at least one-third. By adding outcomes for more distant ancestors, we show that almost all of the persistence is captured by the parental generation. Data on adoptees show that at least one-third of long-term persistence is attributed to environmental factors.

JEL-codes: I24 I26 J12 J24 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (45)

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Related works:
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 (2019)
Working Paper: Dynastic human capital, inequality and intergenerational mobility (2016)
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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20190553

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