The Welfare Measurement of Changes in Economic Mobility

Bibliographic Data

ID9723524
AuthorsAnil Markandya (0000-0001-6304-7103, corresponding author)
Year1984
Volume51
Issue204
Pages457
Publication date1984-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0427 • E-ISSN: 1468-0335
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2554230
OpenAlexW2032252954
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited7

This paper is concerned with the question, In what ways can a change in inter-generational mobility affect social welfare?' In answer to this, two important sources of influence are identified: first, that a change in mobility may lead to a more efficient utilization of resources; and second, that any change that increases mobility is (possibly) one that leads to a more just allocation of resources. This distinction between efficiency and equity effects is rather closely paralleled by a similar distinction in the sociological literature between exchange and structural mobility. In view of the similarity of usage, it seems appropriate that these latter two terms, identified and interpreted in an economic context, be also employed here.2 The paper then proceeds as follows. In Section I an inter-generational welfare function is defined in which direct account is taken of inter-generational links in economic status. It is pointed out that such links are essential if the equity component referred to above is to have any welfare basis. This section also considers different ways in which such a link can be established, and what they imply for the association between mobility and welfare. In Section II the concepts of exchange and structural mobility are made precise within this utilitarian welfare framework. They are then used to decompose any given change in the mobility matrix into the exchange and structural components. Finally, in Section III the decomposition into exchange and structural effects is carried out by way of illustration, and using particular welfare functions as examples, on three mobility matrices presented in the recent study of Social Mobility in the UK by J. Goldthorpe et al. (1980).3

Economic welfare · Economics · Market economy · Natural resource economics · Welfare · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Social Policy and Reform Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub