We examine the relation between the CEO’s childhood socioeconomic class and corporate labor
policies. We find that CEOs raised in low socioeconomic class families are less likely to invest in
employee friendly firm policies measured by several types of labor and employment litigation,
including litigation by unions, and occupational safety measures. These results are confirmed by
crowdsourced employee firm reviews across several workplace dimensions. Our findings are
supported by the studies of within-family transmission of occupational knowledge and formation
of occupational norms as well as development of empathy and altruistic behaviors in children.
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