Social mobility in France: the role of real estate

The project will attempt to identify how the link between real estate ownership from parents to (their) children has evolved along the years in France, in line with the literature on the impact of real estate ownership on social mobility (Kulkarni et Malmendier, 2015 ; Blanden et Machin, 2017). The Patrimony survey, through its questions on parents and spouse enables to link up the assets of two generations, over an extended period (6 surveys cover cohorts spanning a large part of the 20th century). However for to estimate a causal effect one must factor in supply and demand of housing accomodations as well as a household’s finances. The FPR data-sets do not enable this, but by matching with the data on household assets data such as the local real estate prices and local unemployment rates enable the identification of a causal effect of real estate ownership from one generation to the next.