Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/171005 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11021
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The paper estimates long run social mobility in Australia 1870–2017 tracking the status of rare surnames. The status information includes occupations from electoral rolls 1903–1980, and records of degrees awarded by Melbourne and Sydney universities 1852–2017. Status persistence was strong throughout, with an intergenerational correlation of 0.7–0.8, and no change over time. Notwithstanding egalitarian norms, high immigration and a well-targeted social safety net, Australian long-run social mobility rates are low. Despite evidence on conventional measures that Australia has higher rates of social mobility than the UK or USA (Mendolia and Siminski, 2016), status persistence for surnames is as high as that in England or the USA. Mobility rates are also just as low if we look just at mobility within descendants of UK immigrants, so ethnic effects explain none of the immobility.
Subjects: 
intergenerational mobility
social mobility
inequality
JEL: 
J62
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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