About the event
Abstract: In this paper I investigate the causal relationship between labor market polarization and intergenerational mobility, two of the most important features of advanced labor markets in recent decades. The former relates to the disappearance of middle-wage routine jobs and the rise of both high- and low-income jobs. The latter measures the cross-generational link between the income of parents and that of their children. To understand the implications of polarization on economic mobility, I develop a model that accounts for labor market polarization, spatial heterogeneity and intergenerational mobility. Specifically, I incorporate the task framework and extreme-skill complementarity into an overlapping generations model, which models education choice as a function of parental bequests and future wages. The main predictions from the model encompass educational polarization for younger generations, different degrees of intergenerational elasticity depending on parental occupational background, and limited upward mobility for children from low-income parents. I test the model predictions exploiting various data sources for the United States. Empirical analyses provide evidence for educational polarization of young labor market entrants, lower intergenerational elasticity for children whose parents work in routine occupations, and lower upward mobility for children whose parents are working in manual occupations.
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- The online seminars are held on Zoom and last 75 minutes; 60 minutes are allocated to the seminar and 15 minutes for discussion
- The online seminars are held on Zoom and last 60 minutes including discussion.
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