Intergenerational distribution and inheritance: welfare and social mobility – Finnish experiences

Issue title: 1996 Siena Group Seminar

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Harala, Riitta | Vihavainen, Hilkka

Affiliations: Statistics Finland, 00022 Helsinki, Finland

Abstract: The debate underlining the intergenerational distribution and inheritance is rather new in Finland. It has mostly taken place during the past few years. It started with the recession and the high unemployment figures in the early nineties and it has been marked by an expression of concern by the younger generations about the sums they are going to have to pay. Young people are afraid that ever smaller age groups and precisely those currently contending with high unemployment, will be left with the burden not only of paying for the pensions of the large age groups but also of coping with public dept of record proportions. The current debate has also payed much attention to the impacts of the recession to social mobility and the inheritance of socio-economic status and education. There has been quite widespread concern over the prospect of Finland relapsing into class society where positions are inherited and where upward mobility is increasingly difficult.

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-1996-13302

Journal: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 195-211, 1996