Is the correlation in welfare participation across generations spurious?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gottschalk, P
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/S0047-2727(96)01585-X
• 发表日期: 1996
• 页码: 1-25
• 关键词: intergenerational; welfare; unobservables; spurious correlation

摘要

This paper asks whether the observed correlation in welfare participation across generations reflects causal links or unobservables that are correlated across generations. If the correlation is spurious then reducing one generations' welfare participation will have no effect on the next generation. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics is used to estimate two types of models that explicitly take account of correlated unobservables. These models indicate that correlated unobservables are important in explaining the intergenerational correlation in welfare participation among blacks but not non-blacks. However, the correlation across generations continues to be significant for blacks even after taking account of the correlated unobservables.