Intergenerational income mobility in the UK: new evidence using the BHPS and Understanding Society

Publication type

Research Paper

Series Number

2019017

Series

Sheffield Economic Research Paper Series

Author

Publication date

July 15, 2019

Summary:

Using a new dataset combining the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society, I estimate the intergenerational income elasticity in the UK for individuals born between 1973 and 1991. Employing the traditional OLS approach as well as an alternative two-stage residual method that better controls for life-cycle effects, my results indicate that the intergenerational income elasticity is approximately 0.25. This means that around one quarter of every additional 1% of income advantage enjoyed by parents is passed on to their children. I also estimate income rank coeffcients, which are a measure of positional mobility in the income distribution and these results corroborate the analysis of elasticities. These main results are largely robust to changes in the specifcations of the model, sample restrictions and to the use of different measures of income. I also obtain regional estimates of mobility, and find large differences between the North and South of England.

ISSN

17498368

Subjects

Link

https://ideas.repec.org/p/shf/wpaper/2019017.html

Notes

Is referenced by: Great Britain. Social Mobility Commission (2022) 'State of the nation 2022: a fresh approach to social mobility.' [London]: Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office.


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