HANDBOOK OF LABOR ECONOMICS, VOL 4B

Chapter 16

Recent Developments in Intergenerational Mobility^*

Sandra E. Black, * Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin, IZA and NBER

Paul J. Devereux, ** School of Economics and Geary Institute, University College Dublin, CEPR and IZA

Abstract

Economists and social scientists have long been interested in intergenerational mobility, and documenting the persistence between parents and children’s outcomes has been an active area of research. However, since Gary Solon’s 1999 Chapter in the Handbook of Labor Economics, the literature has taken an interesting turn. In addition to focusing on obtaining precise estimates of correlations and elasticities, the literature has placed increased emphasis on the causal mechanisms that underlie ...