The Long Run Evolution of Absolute Intergenerational Mobility

This paper combines cross-sectional and longitudinal income data to present the evolution of absolute intergenerational income mobility in ten developed economies in the 20th century. Absolute mobility decreased during the second half of the 20th century in all these countries. Increasing income inequality and decreasing growth rates have contributed to the decrease. Yet, growth is the dominant contributor in most countries. We show that detailed panel data are unnecessary for estimating absolute mobility over the long run.