This paper proposes a simple theoretical model to identify the main
determinants of intergenerational occupational mobility with an ap-
plication to Italian data. We assume that occupational mobility is
described by a Markov matrix and that three factor affect the occu-
pational choice of an individual: the income incentives of each occu-
pation, the family background and the occupational structure.
The empirical application of the proposed model to a sample of
Italian families describes Italy as a less mobile country, and in partic-
ular we show that occupational mobility decreases for children born
between 1966 and 1976. This result is due to the worsening of oppor-
tunities. The estimate of three synthetic indexes confirms the decease
of mobility
