IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/idb/brikps/1656.html

Some searches may not work properly. We apologize for the inconvenience.

   My bibliography  Save this paper

Social Mobility in Latin America: A Review of Existing Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Azevedo, Viviane
  • Bouillon, César P.

Abstract

This paper reviews evidence on social mobility in Latin America. Several studies have used data sets that collect intergenerational socio economic information. The data, though limited, suggest that social mobility is low in the region, even when compared with low social mobility developed countries like the United States and United Kingdom, with high levels of immobility at the lower and upper tails of the income distribution. While Latin America has improved education mobility in recent decades, which may have translated into higher mobility for younger cohorts, the region still presents, except for Chile, lower education mobility than in developed countries. The paper also reviews studies on the main determinants of the regions low levels of social mobility, including social exclusion, low access to higher education, and labor market discrimination.

Suggested Citation

  • Azevedo, Viviane & Bouillon, César P., 2009. "Social Mobility in Latin America: A Review of Existing Evidence," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 1656, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:1656
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Social-Mobility-in-Latin-America-A-Review-of-Existing-Evidence.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jo Blanden & Paul Gregg & Lindsey Macmillan, 2007. "Accounting for Intergenerational Income Persistence: Noncognitive Skills, Ability and Education," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(519), pages 43-60, March.
    2. Gonzaga, Gustavo & Menezes Filho, Naercio & Terra, Cristina, 2006. "Trade liberalization and the evolution of skill earnings differentials in Brazil," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 345-367, March.
    3. Grawe, Nathan D., 2003. "Life Cycle Bias in the Estimation of Intergenerational Earnings Persistence," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2003207e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    4. Dearden, Lorraine & Machin, Stephen & Reed, Howard, 1997. "Intergenerational Mobility in Britain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(440), pages 47-66, January.
    5. Lam, David & Schoeni, Robert F, 1993. "Effects of Family Background on Earnings and Returns to Schooling: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(4), pages 710-740, August.
    6. Corak,Miles (ed.), 2004. "Generational Income Mobility in North America and Europe," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521827607, November.
    7. Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Jérémie Gignoux, 2011. "The Measurement Of Inequality Of Opportunity: Theory And An Application To Latin America," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 57(4), pages 622-657, December.
    8. John A. Maluccio & John Hoddinott & Jere R. Behrman & Reynaldo Martorell & Agnes R. Quisumbing & Aryeh D. Stein, 2009. "The Impact of Improving Nutrition During Early Childhood on Education among Guatemalan Adults," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(537), pages 734-763, April.
    9. Norbert Schady, 2006. "Early Childhood Development in Latin America and the Caribbean," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 185-225, January.
    10. repec:ucp:ecdecc:v:50:y:2002:i:2:p:249-67 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Laura Chadwick & Gary Solon, 2002. "Intergenerational Income Mobility Among Daughters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 335-344, March.
    12. Roberto Angulo & Alejandro Gaviria & Gustavo Nicolás Páez & Joao Pedro Azevedo, 2012. "Movilidad social en Colombia," Documentos CEDE 10323, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    13. Quentin Wodon, 2001. "Income mobility and risk during the business cycle: Comparing adjustments in labour markets in two Latin‐American countries," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 9(2), pages 449-461, July.
    14. repec:bla:revinw:v:46:y:2000:i:4:p:421-36 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Behrman, Jere & Tarbman, Paul, 1985. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility in the United States: Some Estimates and a Test of Becker's Intergenerational Endowments Model," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 144-151, February.
    16. Escobal, Javier & Saavedra, Jaime & Torero, Máximo, 1999. "Los activos de los pobres en el Perú," El Trimestre Económico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, vol. 66(263), pages 619-659, Julio-sep.
    17. Rubalcava, Luis N. & Teruel, Graciela M., 2004. "The role of maternal cognitive ability on child health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 439-455, December.
    18. Solon, Gary, 1992. "Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 393-408, June.
    19. John A. Maluccio, & John Hoddinott & Jere R. Behrman & Reynaldo Martorell & Agnes R. Quisumbing & Aryeh D. Stein, 2003. "The Impact of Nutrition during Early Childhood on Education among Guatemalan Adults," PIER Working Paper Archive 06-026, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 01 Aug 2006.
    20. Mayer-Foulkes, David, 2008. "The Human Development Trap in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 775-796, May.
    21. Peters, H Elizabeth, 1992. "Patterns of Intergenerational Mobility in Income and Earnings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(3), pages 456-466, August.
    22. Miles Corak, 2006. "Do Poor Children Become Poor Adults? Lessons from a Cross-Country Comparison of Generational Earnings Mobility," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Dynamics of Inequality and Poverty, pages 143-188, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    23. Fields, Gary S. & Duval Hernández, Robert & Freije-Rodriguez, Samuel & Sanchez Puerta, Maria Laura, 2007. "Earnings Mobility in Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela: Testing the Divergence of Earnings and the Symmetry of Mobility Hypotheses," IZA Discussion Papers 3184, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    24. Andersen, Lykke Eg, 2000. "Social Mobility in Latin America," Documentos de trabajo 3/2000, Instituto de Investigaciones Socio-Económicas (IISEC), Universidad Católica Boliviana.
    25. Manuel Arellano & Costas Meghir, 1992. "Female Labour Supply and On-the-Job Search: An Empirical Model Estimated Using Complementary Data Sets," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(3), pages 537-559.
    26. Zimmerman, David J, 1992. "Regression toward Mediocrity in Economic Stature," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 409-429, June.
    27. Torun ÖSterberg, 2000. "Intergenerational Income Mobility In Sweden: What Do Tax‐Data Show?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 46(4), pages 421-436, December.
    28. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Leite, Phillippe G. & Wai-Poi, Matthew, 2007. "Trade liberalization, employment flows, and wage inequality in Brazil," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4108, The World Bank.
    29. World Bank, 2006. "World Development Indicators 2006," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 8151, December.
    30. Jere R. Behrman & Paul Taubman, 1990. "The Intergenerational Correlation Between Children'S Adult Earnings And Their Parents' Income: Results From The Michigan Panel Survey Of Income Dynamics," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 36(2), pages 115-127, June.
    31. Cortés, Fernando & Escobar Latapí, Agustín, 2005. "Intergenerational social mobility in urban Mexico," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    32. Ferreira, Sergio Guimarães & Veloso, Fernando A., 2006. "Intergenerational Mobility of Wages in Brazil," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 26(2), November.
    33. repec:ucp:ecdecc:v:49:y:2001:i:3:p:537-54 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. repec:bla:revinw:v:36:y:1990:i:2:p:115-27 is not listed on IDEAS
    35. Nobuhiko Fuwa, 2007. "Pathways out of rural poverty: a case study in socio-economic mobility in the rural Philippines," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 31(1), pages 123-144, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paolo Brunori & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Vito Peragine, 2013. "Inequality of Opportunity, Income Inequality, and Economic Mobility: Some International Comparisons," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Eva Paus (ed.), Getting Development Right, chapter 0, pages 85-115, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Andrés Mideros & Franziska Gassmann, 2021. "Fostering social mobility. The case of the Bono de Desarrollo Humano in Ecuador," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 385-404, October.
    3. Hyungna Oh & Yun Jeong Choi, 2014. "Limited Income Mobility in Korea," Working papers 2014rwp-64, Yonsei University, Yonsei Economics Research Institute.
    4. Andersen, Lykke E., 2010. "Social Mobility in Bolivia is Finally Improving!," Revista Latinoamericana de Desarrollo Economico, Carrera de Economía de la Universidad Católica Boliviana (UCB) "San Pablo", issue 13, pages 117-136.
    5. Bizoza, Alfred & Jäger, Philipp & Simons, Alexandre, 2018. "Understanding poverty dynamics in Rwanda," Ruhr Economic Papers 753, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    6. Leonardo Bonilla, 2010. "Movilidad intergeneracional en educación en las ciudades," Revista de Economía del Rosario, Universidad del Rosario, November.
    7. Joseph Deutsch & Jacques Silber, 2011. "An ordinal approach to the study of intergenerational opportunities for standard of living: the case of Latin America," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(4), pages 579-604, December.
    8. Baker, Andy & Velasco-Guachalla, Vania Ximena, 2018. "Is the Informal Sector Politically Different? (Null) Answers from Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 170-182.
    9. Johan Sandberg, 2012. "Conditional Cash Transfers and Social Mobility: The Role of Asymmetric Structures and Segmentation Processes," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(6), pages 1337-1359, November.
    10. Bonilla-Mejía, Leonardo (ed.), 2011. "Dimensión regional de las desigualdades en Colombia," Books, Banco de la Republica de Colombia, number 2011-12.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anna Christina D'Addio, 2007. "Intergenerational Transmission of Disadvantage: Mobility or Immobility Across Generations?," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 52, OECD Publishing.
    2. Florencia Torche, 2015. "Analyses of Intergenerational Mobility," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 657(1), pages 37-62, January.
    3. Miles Corak, 2006. "Do Poor Children Become Poor Adults? Lessons from a Cross-Country Comparison of Generational Earnings Mobility," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Dynamics of Inequality and Poverty, pages 143-188, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    4. Maribel Jiménez, 2011. "Un Análisis Empírico de las No Linealidades en la Movilidad Intergeneracional del Ingreso. El caso de la Argentina," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0114, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    5. Güell, Maia & Rodríguez Mora, José V & Telmer, Chris, 2007. "Intergenerational Mobility and the Informative Content of Surnames," CEPR Discussion Papers 6316, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Honge Gong & Andrew Leigh & Xin Meng, 2012. "Intergenerational Income Mobility In Urban China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 58(3), pages 481-503, September.
    7. Raaum Oddbjørn & Bratsberg Bernt & Røed Knut & Österbacka Eva & Eriksson Tor & Jäntti Markus & Naylor Robin A, 2008. "Marital Sorting, Household Labor Supply, and Intergenerational Earnings Mobility across Countries," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-49, January.
    8. María Cervini-Plá, 2015. "Intergenerational Earnings and Income Mobility in Spain," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(4), pages 812-828, December.
    9. Bernt Bratsberg & Knut Røed & Oddbjørn Raaum & Robin Naylor & Markus Ja¨ntti & Tor Eriksson & Eva O¨sterbacka, 2007. "Nonlinearities in Intergenerational Earnings Mobility: Consequences for Cross-Country Comparisons," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(519), pages 72-92, March.
    10. John Ermisch & Marco Francesconi & Thomas Siedler, 2004. "Intergenerational Economic Mobility and Assortative Mating," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 448, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Markus Jäntti & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2013. "Income Mobility," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 607, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Robert Lucas & Sari Kerr, 2013. "Intergenerational income immobility in Finland: contrasting roles for parental earnings and family income," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(3), pages 1057-1094, July.
    13. Grawe, Nathan D., 2006. "Lifecycle bias in estimates of intergenerational earnings persistence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 551-570, October.
    14. Doruk, Ömer Tuğsal & Pastore, Francesco & Yavuz, Hasan Bilgehan, 2022. "Intergenerational mobility: An assessment for Latin American countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 141-157.
    15. Quheng Deng & Björn Gustafsson & Shi Li, 2013. "Intergenerational Income Persistence in Urban China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 59(3), pages 416-436, September.
    16. Maribel Jiménez, 2016. "Movilidad Intergeneracional del Ingreso en Argentina. Un Análisis de sus Cambios Temporales desde el Enfoque de Igualdad de Oportunidades," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0203, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    17. Maribel Jimenez & Monica Jimenez, 2009. "La Movilidad Intergeneracional del Ingreso: Evidencia para Argentina," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0084, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    18. Haile, Getinet Astatike, 2016. "Intergenerational Mobility in Income and Economic Status in Ethiopia," IZA Discussion Papers 10047, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Maia Güell & José V. Rodríguez Mora & Christopher I. Telmer, 2014. "Intergenerational Mobility and the Informational Content of Surnames," Working Papers 2014-01, FEDEA.
    20. Ben-Halima, B. & Chusseau, N. & Hellier, J., 2014. "Skill premia and intergenerational education mobility: The French case," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 50-64.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    WP-689;

    JEL classification:

    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:1656. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Felipe Herrera Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iadbbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.