How much of income inequality is due to initial opportunities relative to adult income risk? What factors determine intergenerational mobility? We study these questions with particular interest in the impact of two family choices: fertility and transfers. Fertility rates, which are higher for...

We evaluate a temporary public sector employment program targeted at individuals with weak labor market attachment, applying dynamic inverse probability weighting to account for dynamic selection. We show that the program is successful in increasing employment and reducing social assistance....

The intergenerational elasticity (IGE) is the most common parameter reported in the intergenerational mobility literature. This paper proposes a "local" intergenerational mobility parameter (LIGE) that allows the effect of parents' income to vary across different values of parents' income. We...

We study the importance of the extended family - the dynasty - for the persistence in inequality across generations. We use data including the entire Swedish population, linking four generations. This data structure enables us to identify parents' siblings and cousins, their spouses, and the...

We study the importance of the extended family - the dynasty - for the persistence in inequality across generations. We use data including the entire Swedish population, linking four generations. This data structure enables us to identify parents' siblings and cousins, their spouses, and the...

We study the importance of the extended family - or the dynasty - for the persistence in human capital inequality across generations. We use data including the entire Swedish population, linking four generations. This data structure enables us to - in addition to parents, grandparents and great...

In this paper, I present some popular measures of mobility in economic outcomes within a family across generations. I also discuss two of the most important factors preventing intergenerational mobility: existence of financially constrained individuals and transmission of tastes from parents to...

Public school funding depends heavily on local property tax revenue. Consequently, low-income households have limited access to quality education in neighborhoods with high house prices. In a dynamic life-cycle model with neighborhood choice and endogenous local school quality, we show that this...

Poor families have more children and transfer less resources to them. This suggests that family decisions about fertility and transfers dampen intergenerational mobility. To evaluate the quantitative importance of this mechanism, we extend the standard heterogeneous agent life cycle model with...

Standard homo economicus lives in a world of complete markets and maximizes utility which is a function of his personal consumption. This approximation cannot account for parents making transfers to adult children, children taking care of old parents, nor for gifts, inheritance and many other...