Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This paper seeks to determine whether economic disadvantages associated with work-limiting disability are transmitted to subsequent generations in the United States. Persons with disability are more likely to face lower income, higher costs of living, and greater poverty. The United States also tends to have relatively low intergenerational mobility when compared to peer nations. Data comes from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and matches 1,482 parent-child pairs from the 1972-1982 birth cohorts. The model uses Ordinary Least Squares to estimate intergenerational mobility for children from households where at least one parent reports a work-limiting disability vis-a-vis children whose parents never reported a limitation. Results indicate that children from households with a work-limited parent may experience lower mobility than their peers with parents who never report such limitations.