Family Background, Neighborhoods and Intergenerational Mobility / Magne Mogstad, Gaute Torsvik.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mogstad, Magne.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Torsvik, Gaute.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w28874.

NBER working paper series no. w28874

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2021.

Summary:

This chapter reviews the literature on intergenerational mobility. While our review is centered around the large empirical literature on this topic, we also give a brief discussion of some of the relevant theory. We consider three strands of the empirical literature. First, we discuss how to measure intergenerational persistence in various socio-economic outcomes. We discuss both measurement challenges and some notable findings. We then turn to quantifying the importance of family environment and genetic factors for children's outcomes. We describe the pros and cons of various approaches as well as key findings. The third strand is concerned with drawing causal inferences about how children's outcomes are affected by specific features of their family environment. We discuss a wide range of environmental features, including the neighborhoods in which children grow up. We critically assess what conclusions one may and may not draw from certain widely cited empirical studies of neighborhoods and intergenerational mobility.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2021.