Downward Mobility

Mobility and Inequality

Mobility and inequality are related to one another in a number of ways. The very structure of inequality is consequential for mobility prospects. In societies characterized by high levels of inequality, with weak systems of redistribution through taxation and public spending, those who are born into the top or bottom quintiles are likely to stay there over their lifetime and across generations. Societies of this kind experience “stickiness at the ends.” Conversely, societies that are highly redistributive may be able to break the links between origins and destinations, even if they are unequal. Though there is not a necessary relationship between inequality and social mobility, recent research suggests a negative relationship between within-country inequality and mobility—a finding that Alan Krueger refers to as the Great Gatsby Curve. Specifically, across countries, greater income inequality at a point in time is associated with less generational earnings mobility. These are countries in which the middle “hollows out” and the population is polarized at either end. When people experience downward mobility in such societies, they have further to fall down the social ladder.

In addition to economic inequality, downward mobility intersects with a number of other axes of inequality. For example, female-headed households are more likely to experience downward mobility than male-headed or two-parent families, and African Americans are more likely than whites to experience downward economic mobility. Those who are more privileged and have been able to turn that advantage into protective credentials, like higher levels of educational attainment, are less likely to experience downward economic mobility.

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