TY  - JOUR
AU  - Solon,Gary
AU  - Corcoran,Mary
AU  - Gordon,Roger H.
AU  - Laren,Deborah
TI  - The Effect of Family Background on Economic Status:  A Longitudinal Analysis of Sibling Correlations
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 2282
PY  - 1987
Y2  - June 1987
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w2282
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w2282.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Gary Solon
Department of Economics
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1038
Tel: 517/353-9933
Fax: 517/432-1068
E-Mail: solon@msu.edu

Mary Corcoran

Roger H. Gordon
Department of Economics 0508
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0508
La Jolla, CA 92093
Tel: 858/534-4828
Fax: 858/534-7040
E-Mail: rogordon@ucsd.edu
AB  - Numerous previous studies have used sibling correlations to measure the importance of family background as a determinant of economic status. These studies. however. have been biased by several flaws: failure to separate permanent from transitory status variation (including that from measurement error). failure to account for life-cycle stage. and overly homogeneous samples. This paper presents a methodology to address these problems and applies it to longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Our main conclusion is that family background appears to exert greater influence on economic status than has been indicated by earlier research.
ER  -