Like Father, Like Son? The Urban Revolution and Intergenerational
Social Mobility in 19th Century Norway
Sindre Myhr
UiT The Arctic University of Norway, School of Business and Economics, Norway
[email protected]
Mikko Moilanen
UiT The Arctic University of Norway, School of Business and Economics, Norway
mikko.moilanen@ uit.no
Stein Østbye
UiT The Arctic University of Norway, School of Business and Economics, Norway
stein.ostbye@ uit.no
The degree of intergenerational social mobility reflects the extent to which individuals move up (or
down) the social ladder compared to their parents. In this paper we explore the intergenerational social
mobility and rural-urban geographical mobility of 51.000 males in 19th century Norway.
Intergenerational social mobility refers in our analysis to the relationship between the socioeconomic
status of fathers in 1865 and the status of their sons as adults in 1900.
It is widely assumed that a high level of social mobility is necessary to secure economic growth. Less
socially mobile societies are more likely to waste human skills and talents. Lack of opportunity to be
both socially and geographically mobile may affect the productivity of citizens, with negative effects
on the overall efficiency and the growth potential of the economy.
Norway has gone from being a poor, agricultural country in the mid-nineteenth century to be among
the richest countries in the world. Recent studies also reveal that modern Norway has more social
mobility than most of other countries. Analyzing intergenerational social mobility under the urban
revolution in 19th century Norway is therefore interesting as a case of successful transition that may
shed light on the process of economic growth and change in wealth inequality over the last 150 years.
This historical analysis may also provide valuable insights of relevance for today’s developing
countries in terms of urbanization, internal migration, and economic development.
This paper aims to study both the determinants of urban-rural geographical mobility and how the
potential gain in occupational status from rural-urban migration influence rural-urban migration
decisions. We examine the selection process of migration controlling for the endogeneity of the
migration decision. The model specified in this paper is a switching regression model with
endogenous switching. The results show that the higher father’s occupational in 1865, the larger
impact it had on the subsequent occupational attainment for sons. The presence of servants, our
measure of household affluence, also had a positive effect on son’s subsequent status. We also find
that sons were less likely to migrate the larger were the anticipated benefits of migration. This
surprising result can indicate that the son’s decision to migrate from rural to urban areas can have been
made by parents who could have been more concerned with maximizing their own welfare or that of
the family.
Keywords: intergenerational social mobility, selectivity of migration, economic growth
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