Intergenerational Earnings Persistence and Economic Inequality in the Long Run

Evidence from French Cohorts, 1931–75

Bibliographic Data

ID9728272
AuthorsArnaud Lefranc (0000-0003-0105-584X, Université de Cergy-Pontoise, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume85
Issue340
Pages808-845
Publication date2018-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0427 • E-ISSN: 1468-0335
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ecca.12269
OpenAlexW2806492775
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited45

This paper analyses long‐term trends in intergenerational earnings persistence in France for male cohorts born between 1931 and 1975. This time period has witnessed important changes in the French labour market and educational system, in particular an important compression of earnings differentials as well as a large expansion in access to secondary and higher education. Using a two‐sample instrumental variables approach, I estimate two measures of intergenerational economic persistence: the intergenerational earnings elasticity (IGE) and the intergenerational correlation (IGC). Over the period, the IGE exhibits a V‐shaped pattern. It falls from a high of value of 0.6 for cohorts born in the 1930s to around 0.4 for those born in the 1950s, but subsequently rises to a level close to that at the beginning of the period. In contrast, the IGC remains relatively stable over the period. This suggests that changes in the IGE are partly driven by transitory responses to changes in cross‐sectional inequality rather than long‐term changes in the degree of intergenerational persistence

Demographic economics · Earnings · Economics · Inequality · Persistence (discontinuity) · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality

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