Intergenerational Health Mobility: Magnitudes and Importance of Schools and Place

Jason Fletcher and Katie M. Jajtner

No 26442, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Nascent research suggests intergenerational health mobility may be relatively high and non-genetic factors may make room for policy intervention. This project broadens this direction by considering heterogeneous intergenerational health mobility in spatial and contextual patterns. With 14,797 parent-child pairs from a school-based representative panel survey of adolescents (Add Health), this study finds large spatial variation in intergenerational health mobility in the United States. On average relative mobility in this sample is approximately 0.17 and expected health rank for children of parents at the 25th percentile of parent health is 47. These metrics however mask substantial spatial heterogeneity. In cases of low health mobility, rank-rank slopes can approach 0.5 or expected child health rank may only be the 34th percentile. Descriptive school- and contextual-level correlates of this spatial variation indicate localities with higher proportions of non-Hispanic blacks, school PTAs, or a school health education requirement may experience greater health mobility.

JEL-codes: I1 I12 I14 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-ure
Note: CH EH LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published as Jason Fletcher & Katie M. Jajtner, 2021. "Intergenerational health mobility: Magnitudes and Importance of Schools and Place," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(7), pages 1648-1667, July.

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