"And Yet, It Moves": Intergenerational Mobility in Italy

Giovanni Violante, , and Paolo Acciari
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Alberto Polo

No 13646, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We link administrative data on tax returns across two generations of Italians to study the degree of intergenerational mobility. We estimate that a child with parental income below the median is expected to belong to the 44th percentile of its own income distribution as an adult, and the probability of moving from the bottom to the top quintile of the income distribution within a generation is 0.10. The rank-rank correlation is 0.25, and rank persistence at the top is significantly higher than elsewhere in the income distribution. Upward mobility is higher for sons, first-born children, children of self-employed parents, and for those who migrate once adults. The data reveal large variation in child outcomes conditional on parental income rank. Part of this variation is explained by the location where the child grew up. Provinces in Northern Italy, the richest area of the country, display upward mobility levels 3-4 times as large as those in the South. This regional variation is strongly correlated with local labor market conditions, indicators of family instability, and school quality.

Date: 2019-04
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP13646 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Journal Article: And Yet It Moves: Intergenerational Mobility in Italy (2022)
Working Paper: "And Yet, It Moves": Intergenerational Mobility in Italy (2019)
Working Paper: "And Yet, It Moves": Intergenerational Mobility in Italy (2019)
Working Paper: "And Yet It Moves": Intergenerational Mobility in Italy (2019)
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:cpr:ceprdp:13646

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP13646

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().