Wilfried Altzinger, Jesús Crespo Cuaresma (WIFO), Alyssa Schneebaum (WU Wien), Bernhard Rumplmaier, Petra Sauer (WIFO)
Education and Social Mobility in Europe: Levelling the Playing Field for Europe's Children and Fuelling its Economy. WWWforEurope
Working Paper No. 80
WWWforEurope: Welfare, Wealth and Work for Europe, January 2015, 46 pages
Commissioned by: Vienna Chamber of Labour – Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH – Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research – OeAD-GmbH – European Commission, Framework Programme
The persistence of socioeconomic outcomes across generations acts as a barrier to a society's ability to exploit its resources
efficiently. In order to derive policy measures which aim at accelerating intergenerational mobility, we review the existent
body of research on the causes, effects and the measurement of intergenerational mobility. We also present recent empirical
works which study intergenerational mobility in Europe, around the globe, and its relevance for economic growth. We recommend
four policy measures to reduce the negative impacts of intergenerational persistence in economic outcomes: universal and high-quality
child care and pre-school programmes; later school tracking and increased access to vocational training to reduce skill mismatch
and facilitate technological development; integration programmes for migrants; and simultaneous investment in schooling and
later social security programmes.
Research group:Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis – Macroeconomics and Public Finance – Industrial, Innovation and International Economics
