Cross-national comparisons of intergenerational mobility: are the earnings measures used robust?

• Autores: John Jerrim, Alvaro Choi de Mendizábal, Rosa Fermina Simancas Rodríguez
• Localización: XXI Encuentro Economía Pública, 2014, pág. 78
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Academics and policymakers have shown great interest in cross-national comparisons of intergenerational earnings mobility. However, producing reliable estimates of earnings mobility is not a trivial task. In most countries researchers are unable to observe earnings information for two generations. They are thus forced to rely upon imputed data instead. In this paper we consider the robustness of the ¿two-sample two-stage least squares¿ (TSTSLS) methodology that is frequently applied within the earnings mobility literature. Our results suggest that the TSTSLS imputation procedure typically produces poor approximations to long-run earnings, leading to large biases in estimates of intergenerational associations. We hence conclude that TSTSLS estimates should not be used in cross-national comparisons of intergenerational earnings mobility. When we exclude such studies from international comparisons, key findings from this literature no longer hold.