A Common Framework to Analyze Social Mobility and Inequality of Opportunity. An Application to the Core and Peripheral Areas of Chile, Colombia, and Mexico

Isidro Soloaga, Thibaut Plassot and Chiara Cazzuffi

Journal of Development Studies, 2025, vol. 61, issue 7, 1110-1125

Abstract: This paper presents a unified framework to analyze social mobility (SM) and inequality of opportunity (IOp) in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, focusing on subnational disparities in intermediate functional areas. Using data from the 2018 Household Survey on Territorial Dynamics and Wellbeing, we estimate SM and IOp simultaneously to investigate how individuals’ origins and circumstances influence their economic outcomes as adults. The study employs rank-rank regression to measure relative SM and introduces additional variables, such as sex and territorial characteristics, to capture IOp. Our findings indicate that absolute mobility is similar across the three countries, but relative mobility is higher in Chile, while IOp is lower compared to Colombia and Mexico. Parental wealth is the most significant determinant of IOp in Mexico, whereas territorial factors play a more influential role in Chile and Colombia. The results suggest that policies aimed at reducing IOp and enhancing SM should combine place-based and person-based interventions, especially in countries where territorial characteristics significantly impact socioeconomic outcomes. This paper contributes to the literature by offering a comparative analysis of SM and IOp within a common analytical framework, thereby enhancing our understanding of the complex interactions between these two concepts.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2025.2451867

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