The dynamics of the 'Great Gatsby Curve' and a look at the curve during the Great Gatsby era

Battiston, Diego Ezequiel, Maurer, Stephan Ernst ORCID: 0000-0003-2446-8575, Potlogea, Andrei and Rodríguez Mora, José V. (2023) The dynamics of the 'Great Gatsby Curve' and a look at the curve during the Great Gatsby era. CEP Discussion Papers (CEPDP1928). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.

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Abstract

We use linked historical US censuses to study the empirical relationship between inequality and intergenerational mobility. We first confirm that the 'Great Gatsby Curve' already existed in the early 20th century. We then study a 'dynamic' version of the curve that relates changes in equality to changes in intergenerational mobility. Interestingly, we find that this relationship varies over two-decade periods for income but remains consistent for education. Finally, we propose novel unitless measures of intergenerational mobility and inequality to show that the 'Great Gatsby Curve' result re-emerges over the long run, for the period 1920 to 2011.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion...
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Centre for Macroeconomics
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies > J62 - Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility N - Economic History > N1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations > N12 - U.S.; Canada: 1913- N - Economic History > N5 - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries > N52 - U.S.; Canada: 1913- R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes
Date Deposited:	24 Jan 2024 14:15
Last Modified:	24 Jan 2024 14:24
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/121316

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