American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Intergenerational Occupational Mobility in Great Britain and the United States since 1850: Comment
American Economic Review
vol. 103,
no. 5, August 2013
(pp. 2003–20)
Abstract
Using historical census and survey data, Long and Ferrie (2013) found a significant decline in social mobility in the United States from 1880 to 1973. We present two critiques of the Long-Ferrie study. First, the data quality of the Long-Ferrie study is more limiting than the authors acknowledge. Second, and more critically, they applied a method ill-suited for measuring social mobility of farmers in a comparative study between 1880 and 1973, a period in which the proportion of farmers dramatically declined in the United States. We show that Long and Ferrie's main conclusion is all driven by this misleading result for farmers.Citation
Xie, Yu, and Alexandra Killewald. 2013. "Intergenerational Occupational Mobility in Great Britain and the United States since 1850: Comment." American Economic Review, 103 (5): 2003–20. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.5.2003Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J62 Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
- N31 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N32 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- N51 Economic History: Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N52 Economic History: Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries: U.S.; Canada: 1913-