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Family characteristics in U.S. intragenerational family income mobility, 1978–2014

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  • Katharine Bradbury

Abstract

Family economic mobility has been a policy concern for decades, with interest heating up further since the 1990s, especially as the inequality of the family income distribution in the United States has grown. Rising intragenerational mobility could offset some of the effects of rising cross-sectional inequality on longer-term or lifetime inequality, while falling intragenerational mobility would exacerbate such effects. The positions families occupy in the income distribution and the degree to which they are stuck or able to move up (or slide down) over time are critical determinants of their current well-being and their children’s prospects. Using data that track individual families’ incomes during overlapping 10-year periods from 1978 to 1988 through 2004–2014, this paper documents trends in intragenerational family mobility and investigates the relationships of family characteristics to mobility and whether the importance of those factors has changed over time or differs for shorter or longer periods. The paper measures intragenerational mobility using both relative and dollar-denominated indicators. Family characteristics include family structure, educational attainment and work behavior of the family head and spouse (if present), and time-invariant characteristics of the family head, such as race. The analysis also examines within-period changes in the time-varying factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Katharine Bradbury, 2023. "Family characteristics in U.S. intragenerational family income mobility, 1978–2014," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(1), pages 1-23, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecin:v:21:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10888-022-09544-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10888-022-09544-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Thomas L. Hungerford, 2011. "How Income Mobility Affects Income Inequality: US Evidence in the 1980s and the 1990s," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 20(1), pages 117-126, March.
    4. Birgitta Jansson, 2014. "Intragenerational Income Mobility in Gothenburg, Sweden, 1925–94: Before, during, and after the Rise of the Welfare State," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(1), pages 14-36, March.
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