Intergenerational transfers of public sector jobs: a shred of evidence on nepotism

The attractiveness of public sector jobs in Italy may induce parents working in this sector to use their positions and the network of relationships to favor their sons/daughters in gaining access to public sector jobs. We verify whether children of public employees effectively enjoy an advantage, estimating a model of the probability of working in the public sector controlling for individual characteristics and labor market conditions. We show that if the father is a public employee the probability of his child working in the same sector is increased by a huge 44%. This advantage is larger for low-ability individuals, “stayers” and Southern Italian residents. We interpret these findings as evidence of nepotism in public employment.