Understanding the Effect of Parental Education and Financial Resources on the Intergenerational Transmission of Income
Abstract
There are two essential mechanisms in the canonical model of the transmission of income across generations—parents’ financial resources and parental education. I provide novel empirical evidence to disentangle the significance of these two mechanisms in explaining the intergenerational transmission of income. Utilizing two reforms and administrative data from Sweden, I find that parents’ financial resources amount to about 25% of the effect of parental education on children’s income. Additionally, I show that parents’ financial resources matter less for sons. Overall, my findings suggest a comparatively modest impact of parental financial resources on children’s income.