This article provides finite sample conditions for the ratio of permanent to total inequality based on methods of Gottschalk and Moffitt (1994) to be equivalent to the Shorrocks <italic>R</italic> constructed with a Theil General Entropy Index. A simple test emerges of whether the two measures can be seen as...

This paper contains a proof that under one testable condition a measure of economic mobility formed by the ratio of permanent to total variance employing the methods of Gottschalk and Moffitt (1994) is equivalent to the Shorrocks R constructed with a Theil General Entropy Index.

Using Current Population Survey data, we find that the gap between wages by black and white males declined during the 1990s at a rate of 0.59 percentage point per year. The reduction in occupational crowding appears to be most important in explaining this trend. Recent wage convergence was most...