This article provides an overview of the literature on mobility in developing countries. Explicit distinctions are drawn between directional and non-directional measures, absolute and relative measures, and combinations thereof. We note that the scarcity of panel data has hindered the measurement of mobility for many countries. We pay particular attention to the recent development of panel-free mobility measures, which allows us to measure upward mobility in 122 countries. Throughout this review, we discuss some central themes in the literature.
Authors
- Acknowledgements & Disclosure
- Financial support under National Science Foundation Grants SES-1851758 and SES-2315720 is gratefully noted. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3386/w32391
- Published in
- United States of America
