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Intergenerational Mobility and the Rise and Fall of Inequality: Lessons from Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Guido Neidhöfer

    (School of Business & Economics, Freie Universität Berlin)

Abstract

Countries with high income inequality also show a strong association between parents’ and children’s economic well-being; i.e. low intergenerational mobility. This study is the first to test this relationship in a between and within country setup, using harmonized micro data from 18 Latin American countries spanning multiple cohorts. It is shown that experiencing higher inequality in childhood has a negative effect on intergenerational mobility as adults. Furthermore, the influence of economic growth and public education is evaluated: both have a positive, significant, and substantial effect on intergenerational mobility.

Suggested Citation

  • Guido Neidhöfer, 2016. "Intergenerational Mobility and the Rise and Fall of Inequality: Lessons from Latin America," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0196, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    • Handle: RePEc:dls:wpaper:0196
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Guido Neidhöfer & Nora Lustig & Mariano Tommasi, 2021. "Intergenerational transmission of lockdown consequences: prognosis of the longer-run persistence of COVID-19 in Latin America," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(3), pages 571-598, September.
    2. Nora Lustig & Valentina Martinez Pabon & Guido Neidhöfer & Mariano Tommasi, 2020. "Short and Long-Run Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in Latin America," Working Papers 2013, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    3. Andros Kourtellos & Chih Ming Tan & Steven N. Durlauf, 2022. "The Great Gatsby Curve," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 571-605, August.
    4. Guido Neidhöfer & Matías Ciaschi & Leonardo Gasparini & Joaquín Serrano, 2021. "Social Mobility and Economic Development: Evidence from a Panel of Latin American Regions," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0286, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    5. Baez, Maria Josefina & Giannelli, Gianna Claudia & Mangiavacchi, Lucia, 2025. "Institutions, Development, and Parenting in Latin America," IZA Discussion Papers 18048, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Claver Sanz, Raúl, 2022. "La transmisión intergeneracional de educación: evidencia en América Latina (1870 – 2010) [The Intergenerational Transmission of Education: Evidence from Latin America (1870 - 2010)]," MPRA Paper 111434, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Claver Sanz, Raúl, 2022. "¿Cómo evoluciona el nivel educativo entre generaciones en Asia (Pacífico y Oriente Medio)? [How is educational attainment evolving between generations in Asia (Pacific and Middle East)?]," MPRA Paper 111792, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Emmanuel Ngoy & Carla Sá & Paula Veiga, 2024. "Exploring socioeconomic-related inequality in children’s cognitive achievement in Peru," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(3), pages 809-832, September.
    9. Trombetta Martin & Villafañe María Fernanda, 2023. "Movilidad ocupacional intergeneracional en Argentina," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4695, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    10. Guido Neidhöfer & Matías Ciaschi & Leonardo Gasparini & Joaquín Serrano, 2024. "Social mobility and economic development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 327-359, June.
    11. Brunori, Paolo & Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Neidhöfer, Guido, 2023. "Inequality of opportunity and intergenerational persistence in Latin America," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120555, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Brunori, Paolo & Neidhofer, Guido & Salas-Rojo, Pedro & Sirugue, Louis, 2025. "Inherited Inequality in Latin America," IZA Discussion Papers 18254, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Pinto-Delacadena, Pablo A. & Liern, Vicente & Acosta-Vargas, Patricia & Vinueza-Cabezas, Andrea, 2024. "A multicriteria approach to ranking Latin-American universities based on region-specific criteria," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    14. Roantree, Barra & Russell, Helen & Alamir, Anousheh & Griffin, Míde & Maître, Bertrand & Mitchell, Tara, 2025. "Poverty, income inequality and living standards in Ireland: Fifth annual report," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number JR14.
    15. Lijie Song, 2022. "Examining the Relationship Between Intergenerational Upward Mobility and Inequality: Evidence from Panel Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 1-27, August.
    16. Baldermann, Claudia & Salvati, Nicola & Schmid, Timo, 2016. "Robust small area estimation under spatial non-stationarity," Discussion Papers 2016/5, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    17. Martín Trombetta, 2023. "The distributional implications of short-term income mobility: evidence for Latin America," Working Papers 241, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    18. repec:osf:socarx:qwb6k_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Javier Cortés Orihuela & Juan D. Díaz & Pablo Gutiérrez Cubillos & Pablo A. Troncoso & Gabriel I. Villarroel, 2024. "Intergenerational earnings mobility in Chile: the tale of the upper tail," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 67(5), pages 2411-2447, November.
    20. Emran, M. Shahe & Shilpi, Forhad, 2017. "Estimating Intergenerational Mobility with Incomplete Data: Coresidency and Truncation Bias in Rank-Based Relative and Absolute Mobility Measures," MPRA Paper 80724, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Muñoz, Ercio, 2021. "The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean," SocArXiv mc78h, Center for Open Science.
    22. Claver Sanz, Raúl, 2022. "Movilidad entre generaciones en países africanos: evidencia para la educación [Intergenerational mobility in African countries: evidence for education]," MPRA Paper 111678, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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