Chapter 8 Theories of persistent inequality and intergenerational mobility

This chapter reviews the existing theories of persistent inequality across generations. The chapter discusses total economic inequality both in wealth and in earnings and focuses on the intergenerational mobility dimension of total inequality. The chapter presents a nonexhaustive, nontechnical survey of existing empirical work about intergenerational mobility and persistent inequality among dynasties. The question of intergenerational mobility has always been one of the most controversial issues indeed, both in actual political conflicts and in academic writings by social scientists, and conflicting theories in this area have very often been motivated by conflicting qualitative perceptions of the extent of mobility (and conversely).