In this paper we follow the students that took the PISA 2012 test in Switzerland and analyze their transition into and progress in upper-secondary education. We observe a substantive difference in the rate of progress between natives and students with a migration background. One year after...

We describe gender and socioeconomic inequalities in the Big Five personality traits over the life cycle, using a facet-level inventory linked to administrative data. We estimate life-cycle profiles non-parametrically and test for cohort and sampleselection effects. We discuss the economic...

We incorporate gender bias against girls in the family, the school and the labor market in a model of intergenerational persistence in schooling where parents self-finance children's education because of credit market imperfections. Parents may underestimate a girl's ability, expect lower...

We analyze inequality and mobility across generations in a dynastic economy. Nurture, in terms of bequests and the schooling investment into the next generation, is observable but the draw of nature in terms of ability is hidden, stochastic and persistent across generations. We calibrate the...

This study investigated the role housing assistance (e.g. rent assistance or social housing), housing wealth and home ownership mortgages have on individuals' incentive to work or on other employment decisions. The study also explored whether intergenerational wealth transfers (as bequests or...

This paper examines the role of education as causal channel through which growing up poor affects the economic outcomes in adulthood in the European Union. We apply a potential outcomes approach to quantify those impacts and we provide a sensitivity analysis on possible unobserved confounders,...

Following Mare's (2011) presidential address to the Population Association of America, much research has examined the dynamics of intergenerational mobility and socioeconomic inequality. However, this research is starkly divided on the existence of multigenerational effects and pathways. In this...

We test with data whether social mobility existed in late imperial China (1796-1905 AD) through its civil examination system. We find that measures of ability consistently predict the highest level of exam — jinshi — success, while direct measures of wealth do not. However, in addition to...

This study examines whether investment in public schools can enhance equality of opportunity as measured by intergenerational income mobility (IGM). To estimate the causal effect of public school spending, I exploit the plausibly exogenous variation in school spending induced by the U.S....

In this paper we follow the students that took the PISA 2012 test in Switzerland and analyze their transition into and progress in uppersecondary education. We observe a substantive difference in the rate of progress between natives and students with a migration background. One year after...