Intergenerational Mobility in Australia

Andrew Leigh
2007 The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy  
Combining four surveys conducted a forty year period, I calculate intergenerational earnings correlations for Australia, using average earnings in parents' occupations as a proxy for actual parental earnings. In the most recent survey, the correlation between the log earnings of fathers and sons in Australia is around 0.14 to 0.19. Comparing these figures with earlier surveys, I find no evidence that intergenerational mobility in Australia has changed over time. For daughters, intergenerational
more » ... earnings correlations are substantially lower. Applying the same methodology to United States data, I find that Australian society exhibits more intergenerational mobility than the United States.
doi:10.2202/1935-1682.1781 fatcat:hahripau2bhunb7j62mrai2w2q