Intergenerational Transmission of Inequalities in Southern European Countries in Comparative Perspective: Evidence from EU-SILC 2011

Abstract

Economic studies usually assess the link between parental background and offspring's incomes without distinguishing the effects that family background may have upon educational attainment and upon occupation and earnings, independently from education. The persistency of income inequality across generations is then usually imputed to the reduced investment in human capital of individuals coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. In fact, a clear distinction between the family background effect on education attainment and then earnings (i.e. the ‘indirect effect’) and that on labour market achievements but independent of education (i.e. the ‘direct effect’) should be provided to disentangle intergenerational inequality across countries. In this article, we use the 2011 wave of EU-SILC and, clustering countries according to the usual four-group geographical classification (Nordic, Continental, Anglo-Saxon and Southern countries), ask whether different levels of intergenerational inequality are related to different roles played by indirect and direct channels of influence of family background on children's outcomes. We also find clear differences among the European welfare regimes regarding mechanisms of intergenerational inequality transmission.