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On the characterisation and measurement of the welfare effects of income mobility from an ex-ante perspective

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  • Paul Allanson

Abstract

The paper employs a rank-dependent formulation of the social welfare function with time-separable utilities to evaluate the economic consequences of income mobility from an ex-ante perspective. The resultant class of measures can be decomposed not only in terms of structural and exchange mobility but also in terms of vertical and horizontal mobility, thereby encompassing two of the main approaches in the literature. We illustrate our measurement framework by comparing mobility in the USA and Germany using data from the Cross-National Equivalent File 1980-2005. We find that the pattern of income mobility in the USA was both less pro-poor and more horizontally inequitable than in Germany, but that the latter did not translate into higher levels of exchange mobility given higher levels of absolute inequality and the vertical stance of the growth process.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Allanson, 2008. "On the characterisation and measurement of the welfare effects of income mobility from an ex-ante perspective," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 219, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    • Handle: RePEc:dun:dpaper:219
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    Cited by:

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    2. Nicholas Rohde & Kam Ki Tang & Prasada Rao, 2010. "Income Inequality, Mobility And Economic Insecurity In Australia," Discussion Papers Series 407, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    3. Nicholas Rohde & Kam Ki Tang & Prasada Rao, 2011. "Income volatility and insecurity in the U.S., Germany and Britain," Discussion Papers Series 434, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    income mobility; ex-ante welfare analysis; USA; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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