Estimates of the most common mobility measure, the intergenerational elasticity, can be severely biased if snapshots are used to approximate lifetime income. However, little is known about biases in other popular dependence measures. We use long Swedish income series to provide such evidence for...

We use complete-count register data to describe various features of intergenerational mobility in Sweden. First, we document the extent of regional variation in educational and income mobility across Swedish municipalities, and describe its spatial pattern. Second, we study the stability of such...

The estimation of intergenerational mobility ideally requires full income histories to determine lifetime incomes. However, as applications are typically based on shorter snapshots, estimates are subject to lifecycle bias. Using long income series from Sweden and the US, we illustrate that...

We compute rates of absolute upward income mobility for the 1960-1987 birth cohorts in eight countries in North America and Europe. Rates and trends in absolute mobility varied dramatically across countries during this period: the US and Canada saw upward mobility rates near 50% for recent...

Parenting decisions are among the most consequential choices people make throughout their lives. Starting with the work of pioneers such as Gary Becker, economists have used the toolset of their discipline to understand what parents do and how parents' actions affect their children. In recent...

We construct a theory of intergenerational preference transmission that rationalizes the choice between alternative parenting styles (related to Baumrind 1967). Parents maximize an objective function that combines Beckerian and paternalistic altruism towards children. They can affect their...