Does inequality reduce mobility? The Great Gatsby Curve and its mechanisms

Arbeitspapier

A body of evidence has emerged in the literature on intergenerational mobility documenting that countries with large income differences also have less intergenerational mobility: a relationship known as the Great Gatsby Curve. In this paper, I estimate the Great Gatsby Curve within Sweden exploiting both cross-sectional and longitudinal variation. I find that men who grew up in regions or periods with high levels of income inequality experienced less intergenerational mobility as adults, thereby confirming the existence of a Great Gatsby Curve in Sweden. I also present new evidence on the underlying mechanisms of the Great Gatsby Curve. By decomposing intergenerational mobility into separate transmission channels, I find that the mediating effects that educational attainment and cognitive and non-cognitive skills have on the persistence of socioeconomic status across generations drive the Great Gatsby Curve.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper ; No. 2019:20

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions ; Education and Inequality ; Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
• Subject: Intergenerational mobility ; equality of opportunity ; inequality

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Brandén, Gunnar
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU)
• (where): Uppsala
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/227840
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET