discussionpaper,
Mobility as Progressivity: Ranking Income Processes According to Equality of Opportunity
(2001)
Abstract
Interest in economic mobility stems largely from its perceived role
as an equalizer of opportunities, though not necessarily of outcomes.
In this paper we show that this view leads very naturally to a methodology
for the measurement of social mobility which has strong parallels
with the theory of progressive taxation. We characterize opportunity--equalizing
mobility processes, and provide simple criteria to determine when
one process is more equalizing than another. We then explain how
this mobility ordering relates to social welfare analysis, and how
it differs from existing ones. We also extend standard indices of
tax progressivity to mobility processes, and illustrate our general
methodology on intra- and intergenerational mobility data from the
United States and Italy.
