The Factors Influencing Intergenerational Mobility Levels among Higher Education Graduates in Brazil: A Comparison of the Years 2004 and 2018

Abstract

The paper aims to analyze the levels of educational intergenerational mobility of students graduating from higher education in the years 2004 and 2018 and to identify the characteristics associated with the chances of higher levels of educational intergenerational mobility. The paper's main contribution is to provide evidence regarding how public policies contributed to intergenerational mobility. Moreover, the results highlight the persistent inequalities, which are often veiled by apparently positive results that do not conform to the real conditions necessary to break the cycle of poverty between generations. We use data from the Brazilian National Student Performance Exam (ENADE) and estimate an Ordered Probit. The study innovates in the use of data from university graduates, construction of mobility levels, calculation of mobility in relation to the father and the mother separately and controlling for the effect of higher education expansion policies. The results show that greater chances of intergenerational mobility in relation to parents are linked to the following conditions: being a woman; being over 24; a lower income family; not white or yellow; financially helping the family; studying in private institutions; having a scholarship or a Fies loan; being a ‘quota student’ and being a distance learning.