scholarly journals Income Inequality, Equality of Opportunity, and Intergenerational Mobility

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 79-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles Corak
Keyword(s):  
Intergenerational Mobility ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
The United States ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Earnings Mobility ◽  
Great Gatsby ◽  
The Great Gatsby ◽  
Adult Earnings ◽  
The Relationship

My focus is on the degree to which increasing inequality in the high-income countries, particularly in the United States, is likely to limit economic mobility for the next generation of young adults. I discuss the underlying drivers of opportunity that generate the relationship between inequality and intergenerational mobility. The goal is to explain why America differs from other countries, how intergenerational mobility will change in an era of higher inequality, and how the process is different for the top 1 percent. I begin by presenting evidence that countries with more inequality at one point in time also experience less earnings mobility across the generations, a relationship that has been called “The Great Gatsby Curve.” The interaction between families, labor markets, and public policies all structure a child's opportunities and determine the extent to which adult earnings are related to family background—but they do so in different ways across national contexts. Both cross-country comparisons and the underlying trends suggest that these drivers are all configured most likely to lower, or at least not raise, the degree of intergenerational earnings mobility for the next generation of Americans coming of age in a more polarized labor market. This trend will likely continue unless there are changes in public policy that promote the human capital of children in a way that offers relatively greater benefits to the relatively disadvantaged.

The Opportunities and Challenges of Using Administrative Data Linkages to Evaluate Mobility

2014 ◽  
Vol 657 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Johnson ◽  
Catherine Massey ◽  
Amy O’Hara
Keyword(s):  
Census Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Household Surveys ◽  
Program Participation ◽  
Administrative Records ◽  
Great Gatsby ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
The Great Gatsby ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Data Linkages

Since Alan Krueger’s christening of the Great Gatsby curve, there has been increased attention given to the relationship between inequality and intergenerational social mobility in the United States. Studying intergenerational mobility (IGM) requires longitudinal data across large spans of time as well as the ability to follow parents and children over multiple generations. Few longitudinal datasets meet this need. This article surveys available data and the current and potential issues surrounding the use of administrative records to vastly extend the study of IGM. First, we describe the U.S. Census Bureau’s current uses of administrative records in the linkage of households across household surveys such as the Current Population Survey (CPS), American Community Survey (ACS), Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), and the decennial censuses. Then, we describe the possibilities of creating additional parent-child linkages using the SIPP linked to decennial censuses and the ACS. Last, we outline our model to create linkages across earlier census data (e.g., 1980 and 1990) and contemporary surveys.

scholarly journals On Booze: a representation of The Roaring Twenties in the great Gatsby

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-164
Author(s):  
Jenison Alisson dos Santos ◽  
Caio Antônio de Medeiros Nóbrega Nunes Gomes ◽  
Elisa Mariana de Medeiros Nóbrega
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Jazz Age ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Great Gatsby ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Great Gatsby ◽  
American Author ◽  
Post War

Fitzgerald is considered by many to be the spokesperson of the 1920’s post-World War I, offering his readers a distinctive look into the Golden Age of the U.S.A.. This article focuses on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece The great Gatsby (2001) and its representation and criticism of the historical context in which author and novel are inserted: the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties of the United States of America. For this purpose, our critical framework is based on Bloom’s (2006) and Heise’s (2001) studies on the subject, targeting a pertinent dialogue with Fitzgerald’ s work. As a result of our articulation between the critical framework and the corpus, we were able to recognize how the American author managed to express in his work a keen perception of the social conventions and the morals of the Jazz Age, of both the overt (the parties and the ostentation) and the covert aspects (the emptiness of that society and the unspoken post-war dread) of his time.

scholarly journals The Impact of Intergenerational Mobility on Msa Growth in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-141
Author(s):  
Mauro Joseph
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Intergenerational Mobility ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
The United States ◽  
Income Mobility ◽  
Absolute Income ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis paper explores the relationship between economic growth and intergenerational mobility in the United States. Data from metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. is used to examine how two measures of intergenerational mobility impact growth rates. More precisely, I examine how absolute income mobility and relative income mobility are related the growth rate of real gross metropolitan product (RGMP) from 2001 to 2011. I find that absolute mobility has a positive relationship with RGMP growth over the time period, and that relative mobility exhibits a negative relationship with RGMP. Results are found to be robust to two stage least squares estimation.

scholarly journals A Meta-Analysis of the Association between Income Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 237802311988128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernesto F. L. Amaral ◽  
Shih-Keng Yen ◽  
Sharron Xuanren Wang-Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Gini Coefficient ◽  
Intergenerational Mobility ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Income Share ◽  
Income Elasticities ◽  
Great Gatsby ◽  
The Gini Coefficient ◽  
Over Time

We provide an overview of associations between income inequality and intergenerational mobility in the United States, Canada, and eight European countries. We analyze whether this correlation is observed across and within countries over time. We investigate Great Gatsby curves and perform metaregression analyses based on several papers on this topic. Results suggest that countries with high levels of inequality tend to have lower levels of mobility. Intergenerational income elasticities have stronger associations with the Gini coefficient compared to associations with the top 1 percent income share. Once models are controlled for methodological variables, country indicators, and paper indicators, correlations of mobility with the Gini coefficient lose significance but not with the top 1 percent income share. This result is an indication that recent increases in inequality at the top of the distribution might be negatively affecting mobility on a greater magnitude compared to variations across the income distribution.

Is the American dream dead? Inequality, mobility and entrepreneurship

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-256
Author(s):  
Young Back Choi
Keyword(s):  
Intergenerational Mobility ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Statistical Inferences ◽  
Great Gatsby ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Great Gatsby ◽  
The Rich

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to question the frequently heard claims of a negative relationship between inequality and intergenerational mobility (such as the “Great Gatsby Curve” by Alan Krueger) and to propose entrepreneurship as the neglected prime countervailing force against the putative advantages of the rich. Design/methodology/approach – A critical examination of evidences marshalled to support the case for a negative relationship between inequality and mobility, in terms of the appropriateness of statistical inferences and the consistency between implications and observations. The paper adopts alternative approach of Austrian economic in emphasizing the role of entrepreneurship in generating mobility. Findings – The putative negative relationship between inequality and mobility is not supported by evidence. The result is partly that egalitarians tend to skip close examination when they run into evidence that seems to support their preconception. It is also partly that the dominant tradition in economics, based on the model of efficient allocation of given resources, induces them to overlook entrepreneurship, the prime wealth creator and generator of mobility. Research limitations/implications – The research outlines an argument that the rich do not have advantage in entrepreneurship because it depends not on the ownership of currently valued resources, but on the discovery and exploitation of profitable opportunities. This claim is made based on Kirznerian perspective and author’s own theory of inference and learning process. However, it would be nice to able to provide empirical evidence of this claim made in the paper. Social implications – Many policies of redistribution, based on the belief that increase in inequality (as measured by Gini coefficient) signifies a diminution of intergenerational mobility, should be re-examined since the alleged negative relationship between inequality and intergenerational mobility turns out to be untrue. For greater intergenerational mobility, entrepreneurs should be encouraged, by allowing them to experiment freely. Originality/value – Emphasizing the role of entrepreneurship in intergenerational mobility and the dealing with the question of whether or not the rich would have advantage in entrepreneurship is original to this paper.

scholarly journals Intergenerational economic mobility in New Zealand

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gibbons
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Intergenerational Mobility ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Economic Mobility ◽  
Intragenerational Mobility ◽  
Structural Mobility ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Intergenerational mobility is about the relationship between people’s outcomes and their childhood family circumstances. Researchers have sometimes defined intergenerational economic mobility as being about the extent to which an adult’s income and occupation are determined by their own talents and ambition, irrespective of their family background (Blanden, Gregg and Machin, 2005, p.2). This type of intergenerational mobility differs from the structural mobility that happens when average incomes and job quality improve over time, and is sometimes also different from the intragenerational mobility that occurs when individuals change jobs or advance in their career (Aldridge, 2005). Because of social and political interest in equality of opportunity and economic efficiency, intergenerational economic mobility has been of increasing interest to researchers.

Jay Gatsby, Justice Douglas, and the Significance of Class in American Society

2019 ◽  
pp. 125-148
Author(s):  
Justin Driver
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
American West ◽  
American Dream ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Gatsby ◽  
The Great Gatsby ◽  
American Society ◽  
Insight Into

This chapter juxtaposes the tales of two ambitious men, both born in the American West, who moved east to New York in an effort to make names for themselves during the 1920s. The ambitions of Jay Gatsby—as recounted in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby—and William O. Douglas—as recounted in his autobiography, Go East, Young Man—led the two men in very different directions. Where Gatsby turned to lawlessness, Douglas instead turned to law. The distinct journeys and distinct fates that Gatsby and Douglas experience yield insight into the significance of class within the United States, and also offer significant complications of the American Dream.

Still Great: Subjective Intergenerational Mobility and Income Inequality

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 496-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eyal Bar-Haim
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Intergenerational Mobility ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Great Gatsby ◽  
Individual Perceptions ◽  
Intergenerational Income Mobility ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Great Gatsby ◽  
Using Data

AbstractIn recent years, the authors of several studies have established that income inequality is negatively associated with intergenerational income mobility in a phenomenon known as “The Great Gatsby Curve.” Yet, extant research on the effects of inequality and social mobility on people’s perceptions and social and political behavior has yielded contradicting results. In light of these inconsistencies, the aim of the current study was to evaluate the association between income inequality and subjective intergenerational mobility. Using data from 40 countries, the effect of income inequality on subjective mobility was examined, along with their combined effect on views regarding redistribution. The results indicated that income inequality increases mainly subjective downward mobility. The effect of subjective mobility on the attitudes toward redistribution was found to be substantial, but there were no significant results highlighting an interaction between inequality and subjective mobility. The results show how individual perceptions of opportunity inequalities are affected by the structural constraints of society. The social implications of these results are discussed herein.

Styron Leaves Las Vegas

Janus Head ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-297
Author(s):  
Kerry Kidd ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Las Vegas ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Great Gatsby ◽  
The Great Gatsby ◽  
Alcohol Habit ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

This essay examines the relationship between wording authorship, depression and addiction. Styron's own experience was of tumbling into acute depression, following the withdrawal of his habitual low-level alcohol habit. The paper examines the way in which such depressions may be described as emptinesses of being congruent with a philosophical (Sartrean) perspective: it compares them with the wild excesses and hyperactivities associated with alcoholism in Leaving Las Vegas and The Great Gatsby. The paper makes several theoretical association between alcoholic behavior and the act of writing itself.

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