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Abstract:
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It remains unclear whether social mobility is increasing in the advanced
nations. The answer may depend on mobility patterns within very recent
birth cohorts. We use the inter-generational module in the 2005 EUSILC
which allows us to include more recent cohorts. Comparing
across two Nordic and three Continental European countries, we
estimate inter-generational mobility trends for sons both indirectly, via
social origin effects on educational attainment, and directly in terms of
adult income attainment. In line with other studies we find substantially
more mobility in Scandinavia, but also that traditionally less mobile
societies, like Spain, are moving towards greater equality. We focus
particularly on non-linear relations. Most interestingly, we reveal
evident asymmetries in the process of equalizing life chances, in
Denmark. The disadvantages associated with low social class origins
have largely disappeared, but the advantages related to privileged
origins persist. |