Family background and intergenerational mobility in a transition economy: Evidence from China

Weibo Yan and Sihan Gao

Journal of Asian Economics, 2024, vol. 92, issue C

Abstract: This paper develops a parsimonious model of incomplete credit and job markets in which family background helps children invest in education and land jobs. As some competent children lacking in social connections are shut out of good jobs, both their incentives and accessibility in investing in education reduce. The transition process to value more on education rather than family background is associated with higher relative mobility, upward mobility, and mobility expectations. To promote intergenerational mobility in developing countries, the reformation of the job market may be another key area besides providing more education opportunities for deprived children. Some evidence from China supports the theoretical model.

Keywords: Intergenerational mobility; Transition economy; Family background (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D52 J24 J62 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049007824000150
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:asieco:v:92:y:2024:i:c:s1049007824000150

DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101720

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Asian Economics is currently edited by C. Wiemer

More articles in Journal of Asian Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().