How Much Does Sorting Increase Inequality?

Michael Kremer

No 5566, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Social commentators from William Julius Wilson to Charles Murray have argued that increased sorting of people into internally homogeneous" neighborhoods,schools, and marriages is spurring long-run inequality. Cali- bration of a formal model suggests that these fears are misplaced. In order to increase the steady-state standard deviation of education by one percent, the correlation between neighbors' education would have to double, or the correlation between spouses' education would have to increase by one-third. In fact, both correlations have declined slightly over the past few decades. Sorting has somewhat more significant effects on intergenerational mobility than on inequality."

JEL-codes: D31 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1996-05
Note: EFG
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Published as Quarterly Journal of Economics (February 1997): 15-139.

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Journal Article: How Much does Sorting Increase Inequality? (1997)
Working Paper: How Much Does Sorting Increase Inequality? (1996)
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