Social mobility: what is it and why does it matter?

The definition of social mobility is the object of some discussion, and although there is a common thread that runs through all of these discussions, the actual definition varies from study to study. There is agreement that social mobility refers to “movements by specific entities between periods in...

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Autor principal: Galiani, Sebastián
Formato: Articulo Documento de trabajo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/3660
http://cedlas.econo.unlp.edu.ar/download.php?file=archivos_upload/doc_cedlas101.pdf
Aporte de:
id I19-R120-10915-3660
record_format dspace
institution Universidad Nacional de La Plata
institution_str I-19
repository_str R-120
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
language Inglés
topic Economía
movilidad social
problema social
economía social
spellingShingle Economía
movilidad social
problema social
economía social
Galiani, Sebastián
Social mobility: what is it and why does it matter?
topic_facet Economía
movilidad social
problema social
economía social
description The definition of social mobility is the object of some discussion, and although there is a common thread that runs through all of these discussions, the actual definition varies from study to study. There is agreement that social mobility refers to “movements by specific entities between periods in socioeconomic status indicators” (Behrman, 2000) and that it aims to quantify “the movement of given [entities] through the distribution of economic well-being over time, establishing how dependent one’s current economic position is on one’s past position, and relating people’s mobility experiences” to the overall conditions of the economy in which they operate (Fields, 2000). Differences arise, however, when an attempt is made to endow these definitions with empirical content (i.e., when an effort is made to determine what variable should be used to measure mobility, what exactly should be considered “movement” in a distribution, or what time spans should be used to evaluate mobility). In the following discussion, we briefly comment on some of the conceptual issues that have been raised in the literature on mobility. Among the multiple considerations concerning the definition of mobility, in this paper we define social mobility as a situation in which the relative economic status of an agent is not dependent on starting conditions such as parental income or family background. Therefore, analyzing the determinants of mobility involves exploring the channels through which offspring’s income is correlated to its parents’, such as inherited bequest, education, formal rules, skills, opportunities, working spirit, among many others. As parental linkage is a source of differences in income among individuals, there is a deep relation between social mobility and inequality. They are jointly determined, and the most prevalent theoretical association between mobility and inequality is negative; since structural conditions that lead to low mobility also tend to favor unequal outcomes.
format Articulo
Documento de trabajo
author Galiani, Sebastián
author_facet Galiani, Sebastián
author_sort Galiani, Sebastián
title Social mobility: what is it and why does it matter?
title_short Social mobility: what is it and why does it matter?
title_full Social mobility: what is it and why does it matter?
title_fullStr Social mobility: what is it and why does it matter?
title_full_unstemmed Social mobility: what is it and why does it matter?
title_sort social mobility: what is it and why does it matter?
publishDate 2010
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/3660
http://cedlas.econo.unlp.edu.ar/download.php?file=archivos_upload/doc_cedlas101.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT galianisebastian socialmobilitywhatisitandwhydoesitmatter
bdutipo_str Repositorios
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