Intergenerational Mobility of Earnings in China

AbstractDue to dataset limitations, existing studies on China’s intergenerational income mobility are unreliable. Using longitudinal data from the Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey, this study applied a modified version of the Zimmerman [Zimmerman DJ (1992) Regression toward mediocrity in economic stature. Am Econ Rev 82(3):409–429] model and estimated intergenerational earnings mobility based on a complete model with covariance restrictions. The new estimate demonstrates that intergenerational earnings elasticity in China is 0.54, a rather higher level relative to most developed countries.JEL: J62, C81, D31