The Long-Run Evolution of Absolute Intergenerational Mobility

This paper combines cross-sectional and longitudinal income data to present the evolution of absolute intergenerational income mobility in ten advanced economies in the twentieth century. Absolute mobility decreased during the second half of the twentieth century in all of these countries. Increasing income inequality and decreasing growth rates have both contributed to the decrease, yet growth is the dominant contributor in most countries. We show that detailed panel data are effectively unnecessary for estimating absolute mobility over the long run. (JEL D31, J62, N30)