The Scandinavian Journal of Economics
The making and unmaking of opportunity: educational mobility in 20th-century Denmark
We examine trends in intergenerational educational mobility throughout the 20th century in Denmark. We demonstrate that major reforms in compulsory schooling substantially increased not only the levels of education but also intergenerational mobility in education for children born in the 1940s through to the 1960s. However, even as college education has expanded significantly for children born in the 1970s and 1980s, educational mobility has been declining. We empirically test different mechanisms that could account for this decline in educational mobility.
Latest releases on the same welfare topic

Knowledge overview
50 percent of young people with adverse childhood experiences do not complete upper secondary education
July 2025

Research report
A New Approach to Multidimensional Ordinal Welfare Measurement: Country and Urban Level Evidence
July 2025

Comment
The population forecast is incorrect and highly problematic
June 2025

Comment
The government’s sentencing reform marks a refreshing shift: Time served is now to be used wisely
June 2025