American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
In the Name of the Son (and the Daughter): Intergenerational Mobility in the United States, 1850-1940
American Economic Review
vol. 105,
no. 8, August 2015
(pp. 2695–2724)
Abstract
This paper estimates historical intergenerational elasticities between fathers and children of both sexes in the United States using a novel empirical strategy. The key insight of our approach is that the information about socioeconomic status conveyed by first names can be used to create pseudo-links across generations. We find that both father-son and father-daughter elasticities were flat during the nineteenth century, increased sharply between 1900 and 1920, and declined slightly thereafter. We discuss the role of regional disparities in economic development, trends in inequality and returns to human capital, and the marriage market in explaining these patterns. (JEL D63, J12, J16, J24, J62, N31, N32)Citation
Olivetti, Claudia, and M. Daniele Paserman. 2015. "In the Name of the Son (and the Daughter): Intergenerational Mobility in the United States, 1850-1940." American Economic Review, 105 (8): 2695–2724. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20130821Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
- J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J62 Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
- N31 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N32 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: 1913-