open access publication

Article, 2024

Measuring Absolute Income Mobility: Lessons from North America and Europet

AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS, ISSN 1945-7782, 1945-7782, Volume 16, 2, Pages 1-30, 10.1257/app.20210137

Contributors

Manduca, Robert (Corresponding author) [1] [2] Hell, Maximilian [3] Adermon, Adrian [4] Blanden, Jo [5] Bratberg, Espen [6] Gielen, Anne C. [7] [8] van Kippersluis, Hans [7] [8] Lee, Keunbok [9] [10] Machin, Stephen [11] [12] Munk, Martin D. [13] [14] Nybom, Martin [4] Ostrovsky, Yuri [15] Rahman, Sumaiya [16] Sirnio, Outi [17]

Affiliations

  1. [1] Univ Michigan, Dept Sociol, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA
    2. [NORA names: United States; America, North; OECD];
  2. [2] Univ Michigan, Dept Sociol, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA
    3. [NORA names: United States; America, North; OECD];
  3. [3] Stanford Univ, Dept Sociol, Stanford, CA USA
    4. [NORA names: United States; America, North; OECD];
  4. [4] Inst Evaluat Lab Market & Educ Policy, Uppsala, Sweden
    5. [NORA names: Sweden; Europe, EU; Nordic; OECD];
  5. [5] Univ Surrey, Sch Econ, Guildford, England
    6. [NORA names: United Kingdom; Europe, Non-EU; OECD];

Abstract

We use linked parent-child administrative data for five countries in North America and Europe, as well as detailed survey data for two more, to investigate methodological challenges in the estimation of absolute income mobility. We show that the commonly used "copula and marginals" approximation methods perform well across countries in our sample, and the greatest challenges to their accuracy stem not from assumptions about relative mobility rates over time but from the use of nonrepresentative marginal income distributions. We also provide a multicountry analysis of sensitivity to specification decisions related to age of income measurement, income concept, family structure, and price index. (JEL D31, G51, I31, J12, J31, J62)

Data Provider: Clarivate

LINKS
-

Matching Records in NORA

SUBJECTS
+

METRICS
+