Research on intergenerational income mobility is based on current income since data on lifetime income are typically not available for two generations. However, using snapshots of income over shorter periods causes a so-called life-cycle bias if the snapshots cannot mimic lifetime outcomes....

I argue that the empirical strategies for estimation of the intergenerational elasticity of lifetime earnings that are currently employed in the literature might not eliminate bias arising from life-cycle effects. Specifically, I demonstrate that procedures based on the generalized...

Die Generation hat alle Aussichten, im 21. Jahrhundert die zentrale Kategorie der Verteilung von Einkommen, Vermögen und Status zu werden, nachdem im 19. Jahrhundert die Klasse und im späten 20. Jahrhundert das Geschlecht die Verteilungsdebatten beherrschten. Die Auseinandersetzung um die...

The estimation of intergenerational mobility ideally requires full income histories to determine lifetime incomes. However, as applications are typically based on shorter snapshots, estimates are subject to lifecycle bias. Using long income series from Sweden and the US, we illustrate that...