The importance of positional mobility for regional comparisons

Abstract

In this paper, I show how the decomposition of intergenerational persistence indicators into their structural and positional components allows to gain a better understanding of the determinants of the heterogeneity in intergenerational mobility at the subnational level. The crucial element for the separate analysis of positional and structural mobility is the use of regionally defined instead of nationally defined quantiles. This constitutes a departure of the current consensus in the estimations of mobility rates at the subnational level in economics. Using the Mexican case as an example, I show that in terms of positional mobility, there are no significant differences across the regions of the country. This contrast with the existing results and their interpretations, particularly regarding intergenerational mobility in the south region of the country. This highlights the importance of incorporating positional measures into the battery of tools used for intranational analysis.

Stratification economics in the land of persistent inequalities

“…Similarly, 86% of all self‐employed workers do not follow the mandatory accounting and internal administrative practices that formality requires them to do, and roughly the same proportion lacks access to social security. These conditions are heavily correlated with labor income, as workers in the first two quintiles are primarily in an informal employment arrangement, while those at the top are the likeliest to be in a formal work relationship (Monroy‐Gómez‐Franco, 2023).…”

Movilidad social y género: un análisis por entidad federativa

“…Por un lado, la metodología empleada tiene un concepto implícito de movilidad social. Al basarnos en la distribución nacional para realizar análisis a nivel subnacional, nuestros estadísticos combinan tanto la dimensión posicional como la estructural (Deutscher y Mazumder, 2021;Monroy-Gómez-Franco, 2023). Por otro lado, al elaborar nuestro índice socioeconómico a nivel hogar no podemos estudiar diferencias dentro del mismo que potencialmente pudieran afectar a las mujeres (es de-https://doi.org/10.24201/ee.v39i1.448 cir, asumimos implícitamente una distribución óptima de recursos y trabajo dentro de los hogares).…”