The Great Gatsby curve over the long run: Economic inequality and intergenerational reproduction across 20th century birth cohorts in 33 Western countries AbstractThe paper uses harmonized and cross-nationally comparative survey data from seven large-scale international survey programs and a novel class of cohort-level inequality measures to evaluate the Great Gatsby hypothesis of a negative relationship between economic inequality and intergenerational socioeconomic mobility. Unlike in earlier single-country studies that mostly failed to confirm the existence of a Great Gatsby curve in the temporal dimension, the hypothesized association robustly emerges in the present analysis that is drawing on samples of up to one million respondents from 33 affluent Western countries. Across birth cohorts 1925-1994, four different measures of respondents’ social origins and 15 different measures of respondents’ socioeconomic attainment, empirical estimates from hybrid two-way country- and birth cohort-fixed effects fixed slopes (cFES) multilevel regression models provide consistent support for the notion that rising inequality is followed by a higher degree of transmission of socioeconomic advantages across generations. Detailed results indicate that parental opportunity hoarding as well as socially differential investment in response to changing incentives create the Great Gatsby curve association, whereas historical luck does not make a substantively relevant contribution. BioMarkus Gangl is Professor of Sociology at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. He works on issues in social stratification, economic inequality, poverty, income dynamics, social mobility, labor markets and careers. A second line of his work is directed at improving statistical methods for the analysis of social science data, including panel, event history, and multilevel data, and the methodology of causal inference in the social sciences. Markus Gangl has published his research in, among others, the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Annual Review of Sociology, Demography, European Sociological Review, European Journal of Political Research, Journal of European Social Policy, Social Forces, Socio-Economic Review, Sociological Methodology and Sociological Methods & Research, is an elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), and served as Associate Editor and then Editor-in-Chief of the European Sociological Review from 2014 to 2022. Currently, Markus Gangl is the principal investigator for the ERC Advanced Grant POLAR, which examines the impact of rising economic inequality on equality of opportunity, social cohesion, and democratic orientations in Western societies. Tags Research centres, groups and networks Advanced Quantitative Research in Education Education events Research events May 13 2025 13.00 - 14.00 The Great Gatsby curve over the long run: Economic inequality and intergenerational reproduction across 20th century birth cohorts in 33 Western countries In this AQRiE webinar, Professor Markus Gangl joins us to present his work. Online (Via Zoom) Please register for this event via Eventbrite
The Great Gatsby curve over the long run: Economic inequality and intergenerational reproduction across 20th century birth cohorts in 33 Western countries AbstractThe paper uses harmonized and cross-nationally comparative survey data from seven large-scale international survey programs and a novel class of cohort-level inequality measures to evaluate the Great Gatsby hypothesis of a negative relationship between economic inequality and intergenerational socioeconomic mobility. Unlike in earlier single-country studies that mostly failed to confirm the existence of a Great Gatsby curve in the temporal dimension, the hypothesized association robustly emerges in the present analysis that is drawing on samples of up to one million respondents from 33 affluent Western countries. Across birth cohorts 1925-1994, four different measures of respondents’ social origins and 15 different measures of respondents’ socioeconomic attainment, empirical estimates from hybrid two-way country- and birth cohort-fixed effects fixed slopes (cFES) multilevel regression models provide consistent support for the notion that rising inequality is followed by a higher degree of transmission of socioeconomic advantages across generations. Detailed results indicate that parental opportunity hoarding as well as socially differential investment in response to changing incentives create the Great Gatsby curve association, whereas historical luck does not make a substantively relevant contribution. BioMarkus Gangl is Professor of Sociology at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. He works on issues in social stratification, economic inequality, poverty, income dynamics, social mobility, labor markets and careers. A second line of his work is directed at improving statistical methods for the analysis of social science data, including panel, event history, and multilevel data, and the methodology of causal inference in the social sciences. Markus Gangl has published his research in, among others, the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Annual Review of Sociology, Demography, European Sociological Review, European Journal of Political Research, Journal of European Social Policy, Social Forces, Socio-Economic Review, Sociological Methodology and Sociological Methods & Research, is an elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), and served as Associate Editor and then Editor-in-Chief of the European Sociological Review from 2014 to 2022. Currently, Markus Gangl is the principal investigator for the ERC Advanced Grant POLAR, which examines the impact of rising economic inequality on equality of opportunity, social cohesion, and democratic orientations in Western societies. Tags Research centres, groups and networks Advanced Quantitative Research in Education Education events Research events May 13 2025 13.00 - 14.00 The Great Gatsby curve over the long run: Economic inequality and intergenerational reproduction across 20th century birth cohorts in 33 Western countries In this AQRiE webinar, Professor Markus Gangl joins us to present his work. Online (Via Zoom) Please register for this event via Eventbrite
May 13 2025 13.00 - 14.00 The Great Gatsby curve over the long run: Economic inequality and intergenerational reproduction across 20th century birth cohorts in 33 Western countries In this AQRiE webinar, Professor Markus Gangl joins us to present his work.
