Martin Dribe

Social mobility can theoretically have an independent impact on fertility. The problem is empirically assessing it, as mobility is a function of both social origin and destination. This paper presents the Diagonal Reference Model (DRM) as a valuable historical method to study social mobility consequences. We use Swedish individual-level longitudinal data with intergenerational links covering 1905 to 2015. We apply DRM to test hypotheses about the association between social mobility and fertility net of social origin and social attainment. The results show a constant but small negative association between upward social mobility and fertility. This relationship was present, especially among the oldest cohorts, suggesting the need for more research on social mobility effects in more historical settings with DRMs.