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

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 the father’s income are estimated for individuals in different birth-order positions for a given family size. This paper presents results based on labor income and total income for sons and daughters separately. The elasticity tends to decrease with birth order for a given family size, especially in the labor-income analysis of fathers and sons. Family size, on the other hand, does not seem to have a large impact on the intergenerational income elasticity.Birth order; family size; intergenerational mobility.