Abstract

What are the factors that affect social mobility? How are early adulthood educational and labor trajectories correlated with intergenerational mobility? This paper presents three contributions to the intergenerational mobility literature. First, this paper develops one of the first attempts to measure intergenerational mobility using administrative panel data sets in a developing country. A panel data set was created using a national educational test and surveys and follows students, starting in 8th grade, and analyzes their intergenerational income mobility in their late twenties. Second, this paper uses social class and role model proxies and shows that college educational outcomes are related to initial social and educational environments. Third, a detailed analysis of academic and labor market trajectories is used, indicating that students with irregular educational and labor market trajectories show lower intergenerational income mobility. The results of this research open a new approach for analyzing life decisions and expect to provide further guidance for public policies that intend to promote social mobility among low-income individuals.