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Decomposing economic mobility transition matrices

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  • Jeremiah Richey
  • Alicia Rosburg

Abstract

We present a decomposition method for transition matrices to identify forces driving the persistence of economic status across generations. The method decomposes differences between an estimated transition matrix and a benchmark transition matrix into portions attributable to differences in characteristics between individuals from different households (a composition effect) and portions attributable to differing returns to these characteristics (a structure effect). A detailed decomposition based on copula theory further decomposes the composition effect into portions attributable to specific characteristics and their interactions. To examine potential drivers of economic persistence in the USA, we apply the method to white males from the 1979 US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Depending on the transition matrix entry of interest, differing characteristics between sons from different households explain between 40% and 70% of observed income persistence, with differing returns for these characteristics explaining the remaining gap. Further, detailed decompositions reveal significant heterogeneity in the role played by specific characteristics (e.g., education) across the income distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremiah Richey & Alicia Rosburg, 2018. "Decomposing economic mobility transition matrices," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 91-108, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:japmet:v:33:y:2018:i:1:p:91-108
    DOI: 10.1002/jae.2578
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    Cited by:

    1. Richey, Jeremiah & Rosburg, Alicia, 2016. "Understanding intergenerational economic mobility by decomposing joint distributions," MPRA Paper 72665, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Giulio Bottazzi & Taewon Kang & Federico Tamagni, 2023. "Persistence in firm growth: inference from conditional quantile transition matrices," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 745-770, August.
    3. Javier Cortes Orihuela & Juan D. Díaz & Pablo Gutiérrez Cubillos & Pablo A. Troncoso, 2025. "The two-sample two-stage least squares method to estimate the intergenerational earnings elasticity," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 23(2), pages 549-570, June.
    4. Chattopadhyay, Nachiketa & Sengupta, Debasis, 2020. "Individual, Structural and Exchange Mobility: Decomposition and Axiom based measures," SocArXiv 8m46u, Center for Open Science.
    5. repec:osf:socarx:8m46u_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Brantly Callaway & Weige Huang, 2020. "Distributional Effects of a Continuous Treatment with an Application on Intergenerational Mobility," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(4), pages 808-842, August.
    7. Brantly Callaway & Tong Li & Irina Murtazashvili & Emmanuel Tsyawo, 2021. "Distributional Effects with Two-Sided Measurement Error: An Application to Intergenerational Income Mobility," Papers 2107.09235, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2025.
    8. Jeremiah Richey & Alicia Rosburg, 2020. "Decomposing joint distributions via reweighting functions: an application to intergenerational economic mobility," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(6), pages 541-558, July.
    9. Brantly Callaway & Weige Huang, 2018. "Intergenerational Income Mobility: Counterfactual Distributions with a Continuous Treatment," DETU Working Papers 1801, Department of Economics, Temple University.
    10. Javier Cortes Orihuela & Juan D. Díaz & Pablo Gutiérrez Cubillos & Pablo A. Troncoso, 2024. "Everything’s not lost: revisiting TSTSLS estimates of intergenerational mobility in developing countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(1), pages 66-94, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • C20 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - General
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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