Higher Education and
Intergenerational Income Persistence
in the United States
Deirdre BloomeUniversity of Michigan
May 3, 2019
Education perpetuates inequality
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0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Educational Stratification
Parents' Income Quartile
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
(% of Children with BA+)
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100
150
200
250
300
350
Educational Returns
Adult Educational Attainment
<HS HS Some Coll. AA BA+
(Mean Income Rank, Relative to <HS)
Education increasingly perpetuates inequality
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0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Rising Educational Stratification
Parents' Income Quartile
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
(% of Children with BA+)
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100
150
200
250
300
350
Rising Educational Returns
Adult Educational Attainment
<HS HS Some Coll. AA BA+
(Mean Income Rank, Relative to <HS)
. . . Yet intergenerational persistence has remained stable
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
50
100
150
Year Aged 30
(Change in Intergenerational Income Persistence)
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Education perpetuatesinequality
Education disruptsinequality
AND
An equalizing educational trend
HS or Less Some Coll. AA BA+
College Degrees Became More Common...
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70(% of Children by Education)
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0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
0.45
...and Persistence Declines with Education
HS or Less Some Coll. AA BA+
(Intergenerational Income Persistence by Education)
A puzzle
Has intergenerational income persistence remained stable in theUnited States because disequalizing educational trends have beencounterbalanced by equalizing educational trends?
Answer: No.
→ Educational trends have been more disequalizing than→ equalizing.
→ Other changes combined with educational expansion to→ counterbalance rising educational inequalities→ (changes in young adult life course, rising economic→ insecurity)
A puzzle
Has intergenerational income persistence remained stable in theUnited States because disequalizing educational trends have beencounterbalanced by equalizing educational trends?
Answer: No.
→ Educational trends have been more disequalizing than→ equalizing.
→ Other changes combined with educational expansion to→ counterbalance rising educational inequalities→ (changes in young adult life course, rising economic→ insecurity)
In the remaining time
I Details
I Implications
Data
Two cohorts from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth
I 1979 cohortI Survey years 1979-2014I Born in early 1960, college-age in early 1980s, age 30 in 1990s
I 1997 cohortI Survey years 1997-2015I Born in early 1980s, college-age in early 2000s, age 30 in 2010s
Measuring intergenerational income persistence
All
Parental Income
0
20
40
60
80
100
Rank Slope
Measuring intergenerational income persistence
All All
Parental Income
0
20
40
60
80
100
Rank Slope
% Upwardly Mobile
Measuring intergenerational income persistence
All All Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Parental Income
0
20
40
60
80
100
Rank Slope
% Upwardly Mobile
% Upwardly Mobile by Parental Income
Measuring intergenerational income persistence
All All Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Parental Income
0
20
40
60
80
100
Rank Slope
% Upwardly Mobile
% Upwardly Mobile by Parental Income
% Remain in Quartile by Parental Income
Trends in intergenerational income persistence
All All Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Parental Income
0
20
40
60
80
1001979 cohort1997 cohort
Rank Slope
% Upwardly Mobile
% Upwardly Mobile by Parental Income
% Remain in Quartile by Parental Income
Education’s multiple roles in persistence trends
1. Perpetuating inequality via educationI Rising inequality between levels of
education in parental incomeI . . . and in adult income → higher
persistence
2. Disrupting inequality via educationI Educational expansion across the
income distributionI More college graduates → lower
persistence
3. Changing persistence withineducation groups
I Changes in the life courseI Changes in the labor market
Key takeaways
1. Scholars have been puzzled by the lack of change inintergenerational income persistence over a period of risingeducational inequalities
. . . We show that persistence was stabilized by offsetting
. . . trends
2. Educational expansion disrupted persistence (the“meritocratic power” of a college degree)
. . . yet dramatic as this expansion was, it did little to offset
. . . the effect of rising educational inequality by
. . . parental income
3. To understand changes in persistence, we must considerchanges in the (young) adult life course
. . . not only changes in childhood circumstances
Implications
I Educational policy
I Beyond education
Educational policy
For intergenerational persistence, equalization of educationalopportunities = more important than college expansion
I Who goes to college, rather than how many
I Class-conscious effortsrequired—in each stepof the educationalpipeline
I Adding more seatswould help, butwouldn’t be enough
Beyond education
I Education-linked inequalitiescan outlast educational reform
I advanced degrees =increasingly important axis ofstratification
I educational returns dependon labor market structures
I Many inequalities are noteducation-linked
I declining persistence withineducation groups:→ insecurity or
opportunity?I fractal inequality at the top:
→ dream hoarders vs.occupy wall street
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0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
0.45
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HS Some Coll. AA BA MA+
(Intergenerational Income Persistence by Education)
Higher Education and
Intergenerational Income Persistence
in the United States
Deirdre BloomeUniversity of Michigan