The Social Background of Elite Executives: The Swedish Case

23 Pages Posted: 3 Nov 2016 Last revised: 14 Oct 2019

See all articles by Magnus Henrekson

Magnus Henrekson

Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)

Odd Lyssarides

Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)

Jan Ottosson

Uppsala University

Date Written: October 10, 2019

Abstract

Sweden is often described as a country where intergenerational social mobility is high, but research also shows that social mobility decreases the closer one gets to the extreme top of the income distribution. We study the occupational mobility for an extreme elite group in society: the CEOs of Sweden’s 30 largest public firms since 1945. The study is based on a hand-collected data set consisting of 229 former and current CEOs who grew up in Sweden and were born between the late 1800s and 1970. We have information about paternal occupations for 185 (81 percent) of them. 60 percent grew up in Social Group I, which implies an overrepresentation for Social Group I by a factor of 9.7. Consequently, Social Groups II and III are underrepresented. However, almost four out of ten CEOs born in the 1940s came from Social Group III and toward the end of the period, the share coming from Social Group II roughly doubled to about 35 percent. Wallenberg-controlled firms were slightly more likely to have CEOs with a Social Group III background. More than half of the CEOs have a father holding a managerial position. Seven of the CEOs have a noble surname, which implies an overrepresentation equal to that of Social Group I; however, among CEOs born after 1939 only two come from a noble family, which suggests a drop in the advantage conferred by a noble background. Finally, less than five percent of the CEOs were members of a family that was a controlling owner or had a father who was also a large-firm CEO.

Keywords: Social mobility; Chief executive officers; Occupational mobility; Sweden

JEL Classification: J00, J62, Z13

Suggested Citation

Henrekson, Magnus and Lyssarides, Odd and Ottosson, Jan, The Social Background of Elite Executives: The Swedish Case (October 10, 2019). IFN Working Paper No. 1138, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2863819

Magnus Henrekson (Contact Author)

Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) ( email )

P.O. Box 55665
Grevgatan 34
Stockholm, SE-10215
Sweden
+46-8-6654502 (Phone)
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HOME PAGE: http://www.ifn.se/mh

Odd Lyssarides

Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) ( email )

Box 55665
Grevgatan 34, 2nd floor
Stockholm, SE-102 15
Sweden

Jan Ottosson

Uppsala University ( email )

Ekonomikum
Kyrkogårdsgatan 10
Uppsala, SE-751 21
Sweden

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