Back pages: Q&A
Following in your parents? footsteps
From medieval artisans and craftsmen to modern political dynasties and nepo babies, many people choose to go into the same career as their parents.
From medieval artisans and craftsmen to modern political dynasties and nepo babies, many people choose to go into the same career as their parents. The question is how does that affect broader social mobility - the extent to which everyone's life outcomes are influenced by their family background.
How common is it to follow in your parents' footsteps?
My research shows that on average, children are twice as likely to choose a certain field when one of their parents is in it. This occupational persistence increases sharply as we go up the income scale - with children from the richest families approximately seven times as likely to pick a given field when a parent has done the same.
Does it help their career?
Analysing data from lottery-based admissions to medical school in the Netherlands, I compare the children of doctors who are admitted with those children of doctors who are randomly rejected. This allows me to obtain the causal effect of becoming a doctor for children of doctors. Clearly, this estimate alone is not enough to isolate the effect of occupational transmission, as it may only capture the returns from attending medical school, rather than being from a medical family. But by using a double difference design, I can calculate the effect due to occupational persistence. I find that doctor children of doctors earn, on average, 22% more than those who are not doctor children of doctors - a group consisting of both doctors who have non-doctor parents, and all those who are not doctors whatever their background.
How might this benefit come about?
It could be that children of doctors have certain traits that suit them to becoming doctors, perhaps through having the chance to learn the skills needed at a young age, either through school or through "dinner table learning" conversations at home. Or it could be that once they have entered the profession, they have more insider knowledge and professional connections.
What does this mean for social mobility more broadly?
Although my findings are focused on the medical profession, they show how occupational persistence can hamper equality of opportunities by giving some children an advantage that is uncorrelated to their own abilities - a channel through which children of rich parents remain rich.
Maria Ventura is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Edinburgh and a research associate in CEP's labour programme.
20 February 2026 Paper Number CEPCP731
Download PDF - Following in your parents? footsteps
This CentrePiece article is published under the centre's Labour programme.