Do birth order and family size matter for intergenerational income mobility?

Abstract

Previous studies of intergenerational income mobility have not considered potential birth- order or family-size effects in the estimated income elasticity. This paper uses a large sample of individuals born between 1962 and 1964; income elasticities with respect to parents’ incomes are estimated for individuals with different birth-order positions and family sizes. Results based on labor income and total income for sons and daughters are reported separately. The elasticity tends to decrease with family size as well as with birth order for a given family size, especially in the labor-income analysis of fathers and sons.