Correlating Social Mobility and Economic Outcomes

47 Pages Posted: 24 Mar 2015

See all articles by Maia Güell

Maia Güell

University of Edinburgh

Michele Pellizzari

University of Geneva - GSEM; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Giovanni Pica

Idep, facoltà di economia; University of Milan - Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods (DEMM); University of Milan - Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano (LdA); CSEF - University of Naples Federico II - Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF)

José Vicente Rodríguez Mora

University of Southampton - School of Social Science - Economics Division

Date Written: March 2015

Abstract

We apply a novel measure of intergenerational mobility (IM) developed by Güell, Rodríguez Mora, and Telmer (2014) to a rich combination of Italian data allowing us to produce comparable measures of IM of income for 103 Italian provinces. We then exploit the large heterogeneity across Italian provinces in terms of economic and social outcomes to explore how IM correlates with a variety of outcomes. We find that (i) higher IM is positively associated with a variety of 'good' economic outcomes, such as higher value added per capita, higher employment, lower unemployment, higher schooling and higher openness and (ii) that also within Italy the 'the Great Gatsby Curve' exists: in provinces in which mobility is lower cross-sectional income inequality is larger. We finally explore the correlation between IM and several socio-political outcomes, such as crime and life expectancy, but we do not find any clear systematic relationship on this respect.

Keywords: cross-sectional data analysis, intergenerational mobility, Surnames

JEL Classification: C31, E24, R10

Suggested Citation

Güell, Maia and Pellizzari, Michele and Pica, Giovanni and Rodríguez Mora, José Vicente, Correlating Social Mobility and Economic Outcomes (March 2015). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP10496, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2584014

Maia Güell (Contact Author)

University of Edinburgh ( email )

Old College
South Bridge
Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 9JY
United Kingdom

Michele Pellizzari

University of Geneva - GSEM ( email )

102 Bd Carl-Vogt
Genève, CH - 1205
Switzerland

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Giovanni Pica

Idep, facoltà di economia ( email )

Via Giuseppe Buffi 13
Lugano, TN Ticino 6900
Switzerland
+41586664784 (Phone)

University of Milan - Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods (DEMM) ( email )

Via Conservatorio, 7
Milan, 20122
Italy

University of Milan - Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano (LdA) ( email )

Via P. Amedeo 34
Milano, Mi 20122
Italy

CSEF - University of Naples Federico II - Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF) ( email )

Via Cintia
Complesso Monte S. Angelo
Naples, Naples 80126
Italy

José Vicente Rodríguez Mora

University of Southampton - School of Social Science - Economics Division ( email )

Southampton, SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom

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