Rising Intergenerational Income Persistence in China

This paper documents an increasing intergenerational income persistence in China since economic reforms were introduced 1979. The elasticity increases from 0.390 for the 1970–1980 birth cohort to 0.442 1981–1988 cohort; this increase is more evident among urban and coastal residents than rural inland residents. We also explore how changes correlated with market reforms, development, policy changes. (JEL J62, O15, O18, P25, P36)