Regression Toward Mediocrity in Economic Stature
利用美国全国纵向调查数据，纠正了测量误差后，发现父子终身收入相关性约为0.4，远高于此前估计的0.2，表明代际流动性比以往认为的要低。
This paper provides estimates of the correlation in lifetime earnings between fathers and sons. Intergenerational data from the National Longitudinal Survey are used. Earlier studies, conducted for the United States, report elasticities of children's earnings with respect to parent's earnings of 0.2 or less, suggesting extensive intergenerational mobility. These estimates, however, are biased.downward by error-contaminated measures of lifetime economic status. Estimates presented in this paper correct for the problem of measurement error and find the intergenerational correlation in income to be on the order of 0.4. This suggests considerably less intergenerational mobility than previously believed. Copyright 1992 by American Economic Association.