Empirie sozialer Mobilität und wirtschaftspolitische Implikationen / The Determinants of Social Mobility and their Implications for Economic Policy

The consequences of the rising rates of income inequality are fiercely debated among economists. Yet one argument often brought forward is that high rates of social mobility can reduce the problems caused by inequality of incomes. This paper analyzes the empirical determinants of social mobility across countries and discusses the resulting implications for economic policy. It turns out that particularly less segregation, a good family environment, inspiring cognitive brain stimulation in early childhood education, high rates of employment, good opportunities to catch up to the average human capital endowment, low variations in school quality, and a high amount of social capital foster social mobility. We further find that the "Great Gatsby Curve" is much less pronounced when analyzing the relationship between inequality and mobility in a large sample of countries.