The Effect of Family Background on Economic Status: A Longitudinal Analysis of Sibling Correlations

Gary Solon, Mary Corcoran, Roger Gordon and Deborah Laren

No 2282, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Numerous previous studies have used sibling correlations to measure the importance of family background as a determinant of economic status. These studies. however. have been biased by several flaws: failure to separate permanent from transitory status variation (including that from measurement error). failure to account for life-cycle stage. and overly homogeneous samples. This paper presents a methodology to address these problems and applies it to longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Our main conclusion is that family background appears to exert greater influence on economic status than has been indicated by earlier research.

Date: 1987-06
Note: LS
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Published as Journal of Human Resources, "A Longitudinal Analysis of Sibling Correlations in Economic Status", Volume XXVI, No. 3, pp. 509-534 Summer 1991

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