Quantitative estimates of intergenerational mobility

Abstract

The article is about intergenerational mobility — one of the most important factors determining both the level of actual inequality in a society and the willingness of such society to tolerate this level. First part of the article provides a review of modern literature on quantitative estimates of intergenerational mobility. The main indicators and discussion issues related to the accuracy of assessing intergenerational mobility are considered, as well as methods for assessing the reasons for the dependence of heirs’ income on parental income. Second part provides an overview of the main approaches used in applied research in this area. Among them are the comparison of intergenerational mobility across countries and its relationship with social inequality, changes in intergenerational mobility over time, and the relationship between intergenerational mobility and economic growth. Particular attention is paid to the results of applied research based on Russian data. The original character of the work is in the fact that, giving an overview of research in the field of intergenerational mobility, the authors address not only the issue of what certain researchers claimed, but also what methods are used in the literature on intergenerational mobility to support the conclusions.