This paper investigates the impact of automation on intergenerational income mobility. Using Swedish register data from 1985 to 2019, we analyze how parental exposure to robots at the occupational level and the heterogeneous adoption of robots across industries in the 1990s influence children’s outcomes up to thirty years later. Our findings show that parental exposure to automation is associated with lower income mobility, reduced upward mobility, and worse labor market and educational outcomes for their children. Overall, the paper identifies a new determinant of intergenerational mobility and highlights that advancements in automation can exert long-lasting societal effects.
