Like Mother, like Child?

The paper presented in this Research Seminar shows how intergenerational earnings mobility has evolved over time in Sweden and the United States, focusing on prime-age labor incomes of cohorts born between 1952 and 1993. For the commonly estimated father-son association, mobility was roughly constant in both countries over the last three decades. However, the authors find notable differences in gender specific analyses. Mobility decreased significantly for daughters but was stable or even increased for sons. Mobility with respect to mothers’ earnings also decreased, whereas mobility with respect to fathers’ earnings was stable or even increased. These findings are consistent with the notion that gender specific mobility analyses may capture trends in male and female relative labor market participation and career chances. They also point to the importance of considering either both males and females and/or family incomes for a full understanding of mobility trends. To further understand the factors driving the rising income persistence for women, the authors develop a model to assess the (changing) roles of assortative mating, human capital, and labor supply.