Sometimes you cannot make it on your own. How household background influences chances of success in Italy

Luca Bonacini (), Giovanni Gallo and Sergio Scicchitano ()

No 832, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: In this paper, we explore channels by which household background determines an individual's educational and social opportunities in Italy. Our analysis relies on a rich dataset that contains data both on individuals and their real parents, as well as information on individuals' non-cognitive skills. This paper also represents the first attempt to evaluate if and to what extent personality traits affect educational and occupational opportunities in Italy and how they interact with household background. The results highlight that the level of parental education is more relevant than the level of parental occupational skill in individuals' educational and social opportunities. The inclusion of 'Big-5' variables in the model helps control for omitted variables and reduces the unobserved heterogeneity in intergenerational social mobility among individuals with the same level of education and skills. Our results depict a dual and unequal labour market.

Keywords: intergenerational mobility; equality of opportunity; household background; regional studies; personality traits; big five (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 J62 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:832

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