The Intergenerational Mobility of Income: A Study Applied to the Spanish Case (2005–2011)

Intergenerational income mobility has attracted the interest of many economists for—among other reasons—its role as a mechanism for reducing inequalities and achieving equal opportunities. In this paper, we analyse the intergenerational mobility of income in Spain in the years 2005 and 2011, located at different phases of the economic cycle. We use proxy variables (the economic situation of the household during the adolescence of the informant and the educational level achieved by parents) to study intergenerational income mobility, because there are not extant surveys with income information from parents and their descendants when they are part of a different household. With these variables, we try to verify the existence and degree of mobility by analysing different methodologies. The results suggest the existence of mobility in the two studied years, although a trend towards a reduction in intergenerational mobility is confirmed, already detected by other authors.

Income Mobility in the Developing World

This chapter examines income mobility in developing countries. We start by synthesizing findings from the available evidence on relative mobility and poverty dynamics. We then describe evidence on economic mobility obtained via synthetic panels constructed from cross-section data. We echo earlier literature in pointing to substantial movement across income classes by households over time—poverty is not inevitably a chronic condition. However, less clear are the factors driving the observed ‘churning’. In an attempt to make headway, we consider the story of economic mobility in one village in northern India over seven decades. We describe patterns of poverty dynamics and economic mobility in the village, and we highlight some of the processes that have been important in driving these patterns. While this in-depth study does not permit inferences to broader populations, it may provide a reference point against which findings from studies elsewhere can be compared.

In Praise of Snapshots

The conventional justification for moving from income distribution to intergenerational mobility analysis is that the movie encompasses the snapshot and is normatively superior as the basis for assessing policy. Such a perspective underpins many an argument for shifting the focus from income redistribution, which is said to equalize outcomes, to equalizing opportunity by increasing mobility through education policy such as equal provision of public education. This chapter argues that this perspective can be misleading. It shows that normative evaluation of income mobility in any event often falls back on a snapshot perspective. Further, the snapshot itself often contains the seeds of the movie, as posited in the Great Gatsby Curve. Income redistribution can itself improve mobility even if that is the only objective. The chapter thus speaks in praise of snapshots.

Economic freedom improves income mobility: evidence from Canadian provinces, 1982–2018

Economic freedom is robustly associated with income growth, but does this association extend to the poorest in a society? In this paper, we employ Canada's longitudinal cohorts of income mobility between 1982 and 2018 to answer this question. We find that economic freedom, as measured by the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of North America (EFNA) index, is positively associated with multiple measures of income mobility for people in the lowest income deciles, including (a) absolute income gain; (b) the percentage of people with rising income; and (c) average decile mobility. For the overall population, economic freedom has weaker effects.

Intergenerational Mobility of Earnings and Income among Sons and Daughters in Vietnam

<p>In this thesis, I investigate intergenerational mobility of earnings and income among sons and daughters in Vietnam. In particular, my objective is to estimate intergenerational elasticity (IGE) of sons’ and daughters’ individual earnings, individual income, and family income with respective to father’s individual earnings. The two-sample two-stage least squares (TS2SLS) estimation is employed to achieve the research objective using two primary samples of father-son pairs and father-daughter pairs from Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys (VHLSS) of 2012 and one secondary sample from Vietnam Living Standard Surveys (VLSS) of 1997-98. My results show that the baseline IGE estimates of Vietnamese sons are 0.361, 0.394 and 0.567 for individual earnings, individual income, and family income, respectively. For Vietnamese daughters, the baseline IGE estimates are 0.284, 0.333 and 0.522 for individual earnings, individual income, and family income, respectively. These IGE estimates explicitly reveal that Vietnam has the intermediate degrees of individual earnings and individual income mobility, and the low degree of family income mobility cross generations for both sons and daughters by the international comparison.</p>

Intergenerational Mobility of Earnings and Income among Sons and Daughters in Vietnam

<p>In this thesis, I investigate intergenerational mobility of earnings and income among sons and daughters in Vietnam. In particular, my objective is to estimate intergenerational elasticity (IGE) of sons’ and daughters’ individual earnings, individual income, and family income with respective to father’s individual earnings. The two-sample two-stage least squares (TS2SLS) estimation is employed to achieve the research objective using two primary samples of father-son pairs and father-daughter pairs from Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys (VHLSS) of 2012 and one secondary sample from Vietnam Living Standard Surveys (VLSS) of 1997-98. My results show that the baseline IGE estimates of Vietnamese sons are 0.361, 0.394 and 0.567 for individual earnings, individual income, and family income, respectively. For Vietnamese daughters, the baseline IGE estimates are 0.284, 0.333 and 0.522 for individual earnings, individual income, and family income, respectively. These IGE estimates explicitly reveal that Vietnam has the intermediate degrees of individual earnings and individual income mobility, and the low degree of family income mobility cross generations for both sons and daughters by the international comparison.</p>

Estimating experienced racial segregation in US cities using large-scale GPS data

We estimate a measure of segregation, experienced isolation, that captures individuals’ exposure to diverse others in the places they visit over the course of their days. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) data collected from smartphones, we measure experienced isolation by race. We find that the isolation individuals experience is substantially lower than standard residential isolation measures would suggest but that experienced isolation and residential isolation are highly correlated across cities. Experienced isolation is lower relative to residential isolation in denser, wealthier, more educated cities with high levels of public transit use and is also negatively correlated with income mobility.