Using Understanding Society to study intergenerational wealth mobility in the UK

Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study enables researchers to track individuals as they grow up and form new households, making it invaluable for studying the intergenerational persistence of outcomes including  income,  health  and  wealth.  We  discuss  the advantages and disadvantages of Understanding Society relative to other datasets, and document patterns of attrition as  individuals  transition  from  childhood  to  adulthood. We  then  use  Understanding  Society  to  document  the intergenerational persistence of wealth in the UK. We find that the intergenerational persistence of wealth is greater than for earnings, and that only around half of the intergenerational persistence of wealth can be explained by the intergenerational persistence in earnings and education.