How important is family background for labor-economic outcomes?

Anders Bjorklund and Markus Jantti

Labour Economics, 2012, vol. 19, issue 4, 465-474

Abstract: This paper uses Swedish register data to examine four classical outcomes in empirical labor economics: IQ, noncognitive skills, years of schooling and long-run earnings. We estimate sibling correlations – and the variance components that define the sibling correlation – in these outcomes. We also estimate correlations for MZ-twins, who share all genes. We also extend the variance-component decomposition by accounting for birth order. We find that conventional intergenerational approaches severely underestimate the role of family background, and that future research should follow a more multidimensional approach to the study of family background.

Keywords: Family background; Siblings; Intergenerational mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:19:y:2012:i:4:p:465-474

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2012.05.016

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