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Measuring mobility

Author

Listed:
  • Frank A. Cowell
  • Emmanuel Flachaire

    (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Our new approach to mobility measurement involves separating out the valuation of positions in terms of individual status (using income, social rank, or other criteria) from the issue of movement between positions. The quantification of movement is addressed using a general concept of distance between positions and a parsimonious set of axioms that characterize the distance concept and yield a class of aggregative indices. This class of indices induces a superclass of mobility measures over the different status concepts consistent with the same underlying data. We investigate the statistical inference of mobility indices using two well‐known status concepts, related to income mobility and rank mobility. We also show how our superclass provides a more consistent and intuitive approach to mobility, in contrast to other measures in the literature, and illustrate its performance using recent data from China.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank A. Cowell & Emmanuel Flachaire, 2018. "Measuring mobility," Post-Print hal-01890113, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01890113
    DOI: 10.3982/QE512
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Van Kerm, Philippe, 2009. "Income mobility profiles," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 102(2), pages 93-95, February.
    2. Roland Benabou & Efe A. Ok, 2000. "Mobility as Progressivity: Ranking Income Processes According to Equality of Opportunity," Working Papers 150, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Discussion Papers in Economics.
    3. D'Agostino, Marcello & Dardanoni, Valentino, 2009. "The measurement of rank mobility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(4), pages 1783-1803, July.
    4. Shorrocks, Anthony, 1978. "Income inequality and income mobility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 376-393, December.
    5. Javier Ruiz-Castillo, 2004. "The measurement of structural and exchange income mobility," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 2(3), pages 219-228, September.
    6. repec:bla:econom:v:68:y:2001:i:272:p:519-37 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Kai-yuen Tsui, 2009. "Measurement of income mobility: a re-examination," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 33(4), pages 629-645, November.
    8. Dirk Van De Gaer & Erik Schokkaert & Michel Martinez, 2001. "Three Meanings of Intergenerational Mobility," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(272), pages 519-538, November.
    9. VAN KERM Philippe, 2003. "What Lies Behind Income Mobility? Reranking and Distributional Change in Belgium, Western Germany and the USA," IRISS Working Paper Series 2003-03, IRISS at CEPS/INSTEAD.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Measuring Mobility
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2011-04-27 18:16:11

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    Cited by:

    1. Millimet, Daniel L. & Tchernis, Rusty, 2015. "Persistence in body mass index in a recent cohort of US children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 157-176.
    2. Yoram Amiel & Michele Bernasconi & Frank Cowell & Valentino Dardanoni, 2015. "Do we value mobility?," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 44(2), pages 231-255, February.
    3. Yi Chen & Frank A. Cowell, 2017. "Mobility in China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(2), pages 203-218, June.
    4. Walter Bossert & Burak Can & Conchita D’Ambrosio, 2016. "Measuring rank mobility with variable population size," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 46(4), pages 917-931, April.
    5. Mikkel Høst Gandil, 2023. "Rank-correlations are not robust to differences in group inequality," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(1), pages 201-217, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income mobility; rank mobility; measurement axiomatic approach;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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