主题/ Topic：Does Father’s Income Matter? Causal Mechanisms in Intergenerational Transmission of Income in China
时间 / Time：4月1号（周六）｜April 1 (Saturday), 14：00 - 15：00
地点 / Venue：文澜108会议室｜Meeting Room 108，WENLAN
主讲 / Speaker
Jack W. Hou, 加利福尼亚州立大学（长滩）经济学教授，河南大学特聘教授，南开大学客座教授，在国际内外期刊上发表50余篇中英文论文，如: Economic Journal, China Economic Review, Singapore Economic Review, Soochow Journal of Economics and Business, Applied Economics, The Social Science Journal, International Journal of Business and Economics, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, International Journal of Applied Economics, Social Science Journal等。
研究领域 / Research Interests
劳工经济，国际经济，中国经济
Labor Economics, International Economics, Economics of China
摘要/ Abstract
Intergenerational income elasticity (IIE) is useful in measuring intergenerational income mobility, but it fails to reveal the determinants of this intergenerational income correlation. Understanding the mechanism that underlies intergenerational income transmission is critical for policymakers to devise appropriate actions to promote equality within the society. This is especially critical in an economy like China where the inequality of income distribution has become a social issue of grave concern. In this paper, we use income data from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), to examine the causal effect of father’s income and human capital in the context of intergenerational transmission of income between father and son. We find that the majority of the intergenerational income elasticity can be explained by the father’s financial resources. The lower bound estimate of the elasticity is 0.339, with the true value closer to 0.6. This suggests that any public policies attempting to narrow the current income gap in China will increase intergenerational income mobility and further improve the future income distribution.
