Direct Measures of Intergenerational Income Mobility for Australia

Authors

Chelsea L. Murray, University of WollongongFollow
Robert Clark, Australian National University
Silvia Mendolia, University of WollongongFollow
Peter M. Siminski, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

131737

Publication Details

Murray, C., Clark, R. G., Mendolia, S. & Siminski, P. (2018). Direct Measures of Intergenerational Income Mobility for Australia. The Economic Record, 94 (307), 445-468.

Abstract

We present the first Australian estimates of intergenerational mobility that draw on direct observations of income from two generations. Using panel data for three birth cohorts of young adults from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Australia Survey, the estimated intergenerational income elasticity is 0.28. Correcting for attenuation bias raises this to 0.41. We estimate the rank correlation to be 0.27. We show that Australia has greater mobility than the USA, and this is not sensitive to methodological choices. We also show that spousal selection and family structure may be important determinants of income persistence across generations.