Parental education and the rising transmission of income between generations

Overview

Abstract (English)

Intergenerational mobility has decreased over time for the cohorts of children born betweenthe 1960s and the 1980s in Canada. At the same time, returns to education have gone up.Both factors have contributed to exacerbating income gaps between children of parents withand without secondary education. However, the transmission of residual parental income dif-ferences that cannot be accounted for by differences in educational attainment have increasedat a faster rate than overall intergenerational income transmission. In addition, overall incomemobility has shrunk less in communities that have experienced greater increases in parentalhigh school completion rates over time. There is no significant relationship with changes inuniversity education. Overall, these patterns suggest that fostering high school completionmay help slow down the worsening of intergenerational income mobility.

Abstract (French)

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