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Black–White Differences in Intergenerational Economic Mobility in the U.S

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  • Bhashkar Mazumder

Abstract

In recent decades, blacks have experienced substantially less upward mobility and substantially more downward mobility from one generation to the next than whites. These results are shown to be highly robust to a variety of measurement issues. The author examines rates of intergenerational mobility by race and asks whether such racial differences in the U.S. are likely to be eliminated and, if so, how long it might take.

Suggested Citation

  • Bhashkar Mazumder, 2014. "Black–White Differences in Intergenerational Economic Mobility in the U.S," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Q I.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhep:00004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jeremiah Richey & Alicia Rosburg, 2017. "Changing Roles Of Ability And Education In U.S. Intergenerational Mobility," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(1), pages 187-201, January.
    2. Orhan Torul & Oguz Oztunali, 2017. "Intergenerational Educational Mobility in Europe," Working Papers 2017/03, Bogazici University, Department of Economics.
    3. Mehtabul Azam, 2022. "Household income mobility in India, 1993–2011," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 1902-1943, November.
    4. Shahe Emran & Forhad Shilpi, 2019. "Economic approach to intergenerational mobility: Measures, methods, and challenges in developing countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-98, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Michele Bavaro & Federico Tullio, 2023. "Intergenerational mobility measurement with latent transition matrices," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(1), pages 25-45, March.
    6. Corak, Miles & Lindquist, Matthew J. & Mazumder, Bhashkar, 2014. "A comparison of upward and downward intergenerational mobility in Canada, Sweden and the United States," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 185-200.
    7. Fletcher, Jason & Jajtner, Katie M., 2023. "Multidimensional intergenerational mobility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    8. Liana E. Fox, 2016. "Parental Wealth and the Black–White Mobility Gap in the U.S," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(4), pages 706-723, December.
    9. McDonough, Ian K., 2015. "Dynamics of the black–white gap in academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 17-33.

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    Keywords

    Intergenerational mobility; income;

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