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This paper looks at the effect of parental occupational status on their children’s occupational status and earnings in Russia. The analysis based on twelve surveys conducted from 1991 to 2011 (n=21,639) demonstrates a statistically significant effect of parental occupational status on respondents’ occupational status and earnings even after controlling for respondents’ education. Contrary to previous findings (Gerber and Hout 2004), the association between social origins and destinations did not strengthen over time. The size of the effect of parental status in Russia is similar to other European countries. A separate analysis shows that monetary returns on higher education increased in post-Soviet Russia, while returns on higher education in terms of occupational status decreased.

Gender differences in mathematical performance have been long debated in psychology, economics, and sociology. We contribute to this literature by analyzing a large data set of high school graduates who in 2011 took a standardized mathematical test in Russia (n = 738,456). We find no substantial difference in mean test scores of boys and girls. However, boys have a greater variance of scores and are more numerous at the top of the distribution. We apply quantile egression to model the association between school characteristics and gender differences in test scores throughout the distribution. Male advantage in test scores, particularly at the top of the distribution, is concentrated in cities and in schools with the advanced curriculum. In ordinary high schools, especially in the countryside, gender differences in all parts of the distribution are very small. A separate analysis at the regional level confirms that male advantage in mean test scores is higher in more urbanized regions.