Related Literature

Abstract

Economic mobility across generations is important in terms of equity and efficiency. Recently intergenerational income mobility has aroused great interest in the field of economics. With regard to empirical studies, this new interest can be explored through improved measurement methods and superior available data, which enables us to better quantify economic persistence across generations. This chapter reviews literature not only on income persistence across generations, but also on the link between intergenerational mobility and education. The review is divided into two parts: first the related theory-based literature is presented, and second the empirical studies on the issue of intergenerational mobility are reviewed, especially for the United States and Germany. This literature review focuses on the topic at hand; more extensive reviews on the topic of intergenerational economic mobility can be found in Björklund and Jäntti (2000); Blanden (2005, 2013); Corak (2006); Solon (2002).