A Multifaceted Approach to Earnings Mobility Comparisons

John A. Bishop, Juan Rodríguez and Lester A. Zeager

A chapter in Mobility and Inequality Trends, 2023, vol. 30, pp 165-184 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: Economic mobility means different things to different people, but four major classes of mobility measures have been identified in the literature: positional, directional, mobility as an equaliser of long-term earnings, and earnings risk (or flux). We illustrate some advantages of a multifaceted approach by comparing German and American earnings mobility using multiple indices from each of the four major classes for three panels of 10-year intervals. We anticipate and confirm that due to extensive differences in the German and American labour markets and in other social institutions that influence labour market outcomes, each country dominates in one facet of mobility but not in the others. Thus, a multifaceted approach contributes to a better understanding of the strengths and weakness of the two systems.

Keywords: Positional mobility; directional mobility; equalising mobility; earnings risk; United States; West Germany; D31; I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:reinzz:s1049-258520230000030007

DOI: 10.1108/S1049-258520230000030007

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