Mobility as Progressivity: Ranking Income Processes According to Equality of Opportunity

Roland Benabou and Efe Ok

No 8431, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Interest in economic mobility stems largely from its perceived role as an equalizer of opportunities, though not necessarily of outcomes. In this paper we show that this view leads very naturally to a methodology for the measurement of social mobility which has strong parallels with the theory of progressive taxation. We characterize opportunity--equalizing mobility processes, and provide simple criteria to determine when one process is more equalizing than another. We then explain how this mobility ordering relates to social welfare analysis, and how it differs from existing ones. We also extend standard indices of tax progressivity to mobility processes, and illustrate our general methodology on intra- and intergenerational mobility data from the United States and Italy.

JEL-codes: D31 D63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv, nep-pke and nep-pub
Note: PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (76)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Mobility as Progressivity: Ranking Income Processes According to Equality of Opportunity (2001)
Working Paper: Mobility as Progressivity: Ranking Income Processes According to Equality of Opportunity (2000)
Working Paper: Mobility as Progressivity: Ranking Income Processes According to Equality of Opportunity (2000)
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