Decline in Social Mobility: Unfulfilled Aspirations Among Egypt's Educated Youth

53 Pages Posted: 4 Dec 2011

See all articles by Christine Binzel

Christine Binzel

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Abstract

This paper studies how the gradual suspension of an employment guarantee scheme for secondary and post-secondary graduates has affected intergenerational mobility across well-educated cohorts in Egypt. The empirical results support suggestive evidence in the Middle East of a decline in social mobility among the increasingly well-educated youth. The results further indicate that unequal opportunities are due to difficulties in attaining high-level occupations in the formal private sector for graduates from a lower socio-economic background, and that personal connections may play a decisive role. Thus, aside from credit market imperfections, labor market constraints may be important in explaining low social mobility.

Keywords: intergenerational mobility, Islamic revival, schooling, labor market

JEL Classification: J62, J24, O10

Suggested Citation

Binzel, Christine, Decline in Social Mobility: Unfulfilled Aspirations Among Egypt's Educated Youth. IZA Discussion Paper No. 6139, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1968090 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1968090

Christine Binzel (Contact Author)

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg ( email )

Erlangen
Germany

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