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Title: Intergenerational Mobility and the Transmission of Inequality: an Empirical Study Using Longitudinal Data
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Zimmerman, David J. |
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Intergenerational Mobility and the Transmission of Inequality: an Empirical Study Using Longitudinal Data Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1992 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Earnings; Education; Fathers; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Mobility; Mobility, Economic; Modeling, Probit; Mothers and Daughters; Poverty; Sons; Variables, Instrumental; Welfare This dissertation contains three separate essays. The first essay uses data from the NLS to measure the degree of intergenerational economic mobility in the U.S. Specifically it examines the extent to which the economic outcomes of sons resemble those of their fathers. Estimates are provided using a variety of procedures including Ordinary Least Squares Instrumental Variables and Generalized Method of Moments. The findings indicate the intergenerational correlation in earnings to be on the order of 0.4 suggesting considerably less economic mobility in the U.S. than previously reported. The second essay uses a matched sample of mothers and daughters from the NLS to measure the extent to which a daughter's exposure to parental welfare participation increases the probability of the daughter receiving welfare when she heads her own household. The observed correlation in the welfare histories of mothers and daughters would provide a biased estimate of the intergenerational welfare trap if parent-child earnings are correlated across generations. Two approaches are used to form an unbiased estimate of the welfare trap. The first predicts the fraction of children expected to participate in the welfare program AFDC simply because of the intergenerational correlation in income. The second approach employs a probit model of welfare participation. The findings suggest that much of the intergenerational correlation in welfare participation is not the result of a welfare trap but rather is an outcome of the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The third essay uses a matched sample of brothers and fathers and sons from the NLS to estimate the economic returns to schooling. Contrasting the earnings and education of brothers or fathers and sons provides a means of controlling for unobserved family attributes that could bias the estimated returns to schooling. The findings suggest that estimated returns to schooling do not suffer from a significant upward omitted variable bias but rather a substantial downward bias due to measurement error in reported schooling. |
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Bibliography Citation
Zimmerman, David J. Intergenerational Mobility and the Transmission of Inequality: an Empirical Study Using Longitudinal Data. Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1992. |