Do birth order and family size matter for intergenerational income mobility? Evidence from Sweden

Abstract

Previous studies of intergenerational income mobility have not considered potential birth-order or family-size effects in the estimated income elasticity. This article uses a large sample of individuals born between 1962 and 1964; income elasticities with respect to parents' incomes are estimated for individuals with different birth-order positions and family sizes. Results based on labour income and total income for sons and daughters are reported separately. The elasticity tends to decrease with family size as well as with birth order for a given family size, especially in the labour-income analysis of fathers and sons.

Intergenerational Earnings Mobility in Italy

“…In model (2), we select sons whose fathers were born between 1927 and 1950; this is to guarantee that the fathers described by sons belong to the same cohort of pseudo-fathers selected in the …r s t sample. In model (3), we select a younger sample of sons (those who are in the age bracket [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. Overall, the magnitude of intergenerational elasticity remains stable and indicates that half of the economic advantage of the fathers is passed to their sons.…”

“…32 Therefore, university fees represent a small proportion of annual expenditure for going to university, whereas the major cost for those who study away from home is that of accommodation. 33 In addition to the direct costs mentioned above, there is also the opportunity cost of not working, which can be par- 31 In our sample, those who are graduated earn, on average, around 35,000 euros per year if they come from the top quartile of the fathers'earnings distribution, and around 20,000 euros if they come from the lowest quartile. 32 Istat (2005) conducted a survey of family expenditures on the education for their children.…”

“…Returns to education are also poorly correlated to academic performance and signi…cantly di¤erentiated by family background. 31 Furthermore, private industry in Italy has traditionally been characterized by small …r m s that rely on internal training rather than formal education, and the productive system is not traditionally fully developed in the areas requiring highly quali…ed job pro…les. These facts, together with the strong role played by social ties in getting a job, may lower the incentive to invest in education.…”

The production of inequalities within families and across generations: the intergenerational effects of birth order and family size on educational attainment

“…It should be added that this effect was barely significant despite almost 25,000 cases, and disappeared when ability was not logged. Conversely, Lindahl (2008) reported that the strength of transmission of labor market earnings decreased with increasing parity in Sweden; she also reported that transmission was weaker in larger family sizes. One intuition behind birth order effects, at least as articulated by Lindahl (2008), is that later-borns may feel less attachment to their parents, they may be more influenced by older siblings (and thus less so by parents) and they may experience father absence more frequently and for longer durations.…”

Intergenerational Transmission of Disadvantage

“…(cont'd) Effect Björklund and Chadwick (2003) Intergenerational elasticity is up to 14% higher than the average elasticity for first-born and up to 12% lower than the average for last-born children (Lindahl, 2002). Also, sons of divorced couples are less mobile than their peers from intact families ; differences in educational attainment play an important role in explaining the variations in earnings correlations conditional on divorce (Björklund and Chadwick 2003).…”