The Intergenerational Transmission of Income in Switzerland - A Comparison between Natives and Immigrants

This paper analyses the intergenerational income mobility for natives and immigrants inSwitzerland. An IV approach based on data from two different data sets is used. As there is noadequate data on fathers, I revert to information from a period that differs from actual fathers’work period. This methodological approach leads to a bias of the resulting intergenerationalelasticity. Nevertheless, cross-national comparison of income mobility is still possible. Acomparison across subgroups of the Swiss population shows strong differences betweenSwiss and immigrants. Compared to natives, immigrants are more immobile. Also, substantialheterogeneity is found across different ethnic groups. Using quantile regression, mobility fornatives is found to be similar for all income quantiles. Among immigrants, mobility is higherat the lower as well as at the upper end of the income distribution. These patterns differ fromprevious results from other countries.