Inequality and mobility of household incomes in Europe: evidence from the ECHP

Abstract

In this article we want to shed light on two aspects of income mobility: relative total income mobility using the estimator by Fields and Ok (1999) and equalization of long-run incomes measured by the index of Fields (2009). The cross country comparison shows a negative relationship between total relative mobility and long-run income equalization, this result is contrary to the intuition given by Shorrocks (1978a) who stated that higher relative mobility will cause higher equalization of incomes when the accounting period is extended.