THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF OPPORTUNITY: EDUCATIONAL MOBILITY IN 20TH CENTURY-DENMARK KRISTIAN B. KARLSON RASMUS LANDERSØ STUDY PAPER 158 FEBRUARY 2021 The Making and Unmaking of Opportunity: Educational Mobility in 20th Century-Denmark Study Paper No. 158 Published by: © The ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit Address: The ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit Ny Kongensgade 6 1472 Copenhagen, Denmark Telephone +45 33 34 48 00 E-mail:
[email protected] https://www.rockwoolfonden.dk/en February 2021 The Making and Unmaking of Opportunity: Educational Mobility in 20th Century-Denmark Kristian B. Karlson+ Rasmus Landersø† February 17, 2021 Abstract We study intergenerational educational mobility in Denmark over the 20th century during which the comprehensive Danish welfare state was rolled out. While mobility initially was low, schooling reforms benefiting children from disadvantaged backgrounds led to dramatic increases in mobility for cohorts born between 1940 and 1960. However, the college expansion affecting cohorts born from 1970 onward has mainly benefited children from affluent back- grounds, resulting in rapidly declining mobility. Comparisons to educational mobility trends in the U.S. reveal that the two countries converge in mobility levels for the most recent cohorts despite the dramatically different welfare policies in place. JEL: H0, I0, J0 Keywords: educational mobility, inequality, schooling reforms, skills ∗ We are indebted to generous feedback from many, especially Jesper Birkelund, Richard Breen, Steven Durlauf, Gøsta Esping-Andersen, James J. Heckman, Anders Hjorth-Trolle, Erik Lykke Mortensen, Helena Skyt Nielsen, Hans Henrik Sievertsen, and seminar participants at the ASA conference 2020, the Copenhagen Education Network, the Life-cycle working group at the University of Chicago, the University of Copenhagen, and the 5th IZA Workshop: The Economics of Education.