The Scandinavian Fantasy: The Sources of Intergenerational Mobility in Denmark and the U.S

Rasmus Landersø and James Heckman

No 22465, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper examines the sources of differences in social mobility between the U.S. and Denmark. Measured by income mobility, Denmark is a more mobile society, but not when measured by educational mobility. There are pronounced nonlinearities in income and educational mobility in both countries. Greater Danish income mobility is largely a consequence of redistributional tax, transfer, and wage compression policies. While Danish social policies for children produce more favorable cognitive test scores for disadvantaged children, these do not translate into more favorable educational outcomes, partly because of disincentives to acquire education arising from the redistributional policies that increase income mobility.

JEL-codes: I24 I28 I32 P51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma and nep-ltv
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Published as Rasmus Landersø & James J. Heckman, 2017. "The Scandinavian Fantasy: The Sources of Intergenerational Mobility in Denmark and the US," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(1), pages 178-230, January.

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Scandinavian Fantasy: Sources of Intergenerational Mobility in Denmark and the US (2017)
Working Paper: The Scandinavian Fantasy: The Sources of Intergenerational Mobility in Denmark and the U.S (2016)
Working Paper: The Scandinavian Fantasy: The Sources of Intergenerational Mobility in Denmark and the U.S (2016)
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