Family Background, Intergenerational Mobility, and Earnings Distribution: Evidence from the United States

Ramses H. Abul Naga

Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'Econométrie et d'Economie politique (DEEP) from Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, DEEP

Abstract: An emerging literature in the field of income distribution suggests that inequality may persist in the long run. U.S. father and son income data extracted from the PSID support the hypothesis that the distribution of earnings of children raised in privileged environments welfare-dominates that of children of disadvantaged backgrounds. We provide explanations for this finding. On the whole though the intergenerational probability matrix of earnings exhibits a pattern of symmetry with transitions from class i to class j equally likely as movements from class j to class i.

Keywords: inequality; intergenerational mobility; welfare dominance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I3 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1996-11

Published in Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, vol.143, 1998, pp. 527-543

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Journal Article: Family Background, Intergenerational Mobility, and Earnings Distribution: Evidence from the United States (1998)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lau:crdeep:9623

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