Careers and Intergenerational Income Mobility

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Haeck, Catherine; Laliberte, Jean-william
• 署名单位: University of Quebec; University of Quebec Montreal; University of Calgary
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20230403
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 431-458
• 关键词: UNITED-STATES; transmission; Nepotism; CHILDREN; father; son

摘要

This paper uses census microdata linked with tax records to quantify the contribution of occupations to intergenerational income mobility. We document substantial segregation into occupations by parental income. Children of high-income parents are significantly more likely to pursue high-paying and more desirable occupations. Since parents may pass on their occupations to their children, we further describe patterns of intergenerational occupational following and show they vary substantially across occupations, with low-income occupations showing more persistence across generations on average. Yet, occupational persistence plays a limited role for income mobility, explaining only 10 percent of the income rank-rank relationship. ( JEL J13, J16, J31, J62)