The intergenerational persistence of human capital: an empirical analysis of four generations

Mikael Lindahl, Mårten Palme, Sofia Sandgren Massih and Anna Sjögren
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Sofia Sandgren Massih: Department of Economics, Uppsala University, Postal: P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

No 2012:12, Working Paper Series from IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

Abstract: Most previous studies of intergenerational transmission of human capital are restricted to two generations – parents and their children. In this study we use a Swedish data set which enables us link individual measures of lifetime earnings for three generations and data on educational attainments of four generations. We investigate to what extent estimates based on income data from two generations accurately predicts earnings persistence beyond two generations. We also do a similar analysis for intergenerational persistence in educational attainments. We find two-generation studies to severely under-predict intergenerational persistence in earnings and educational attainment over three generations. Finally, we use our multigenerational data on educational attainment to estimate the structural parameters in the Becker-Tomes model. Our results suggest a small or no causal effect of parental education on children’s educational attainment.

Keywords: Intergenerational income mobility; Human capital transmission; Multigenerational income mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2012-06-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hrm and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Published as Lindahl, Mikael, Mårten Palme, Sofia Sandgren Massih and Anna Sjögren, 'Long-Term Intergenerational Persistence of Human Capital: An Empirical Analysis of Four Generations ' in The Journal of Human Resources, 2015, pages 1-33.

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Working Paper: The Intergenerational Persistence of Human Capital: An Empirical Analysis of Four Generations (2012)
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