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Three Meanings of Intergenerational Mobility
Author(s) -
Van De Gaer Dirk,
Schokkaert Erik,
Martinez Michel
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
economica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.532
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1468-0335
pISSN - 0013-0427
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0335.d01-15
Subject(s) - social mobility , sociology , social science
We axiomatize three different motivations for being concerned about intergenerational mobility: mobility as a description of movement, as an indication of equality of opportunity, and as an indication of equality of life chances. These three motivations are shown to be incompatible. None of the existing measures is acceptable as an indicator of equality of opportunity or equality of life chances. We propose two new measures of intergenerational mobility which more adequately reflect these concerns.