Intergenerational mobility and macroeconomic history dependence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mookherjee, Dilip; Napel, Stefan
• 署名单位: Boston University; University of Hamburg
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2006.03.015
• 发表日期: 2007
• 页码: 49-78
• 关键词: intergenerational mobility; occupational choice; human capital; borrowing constraints; INEQUALITY; History-dependence

摘要

A large literature on 'endogenous inequality' has argued that persistent differences in macroeconomic performance across countries can be explained by historical inequality, owing to indivisibilities in occupational choice and borrowing constraints. These models are characterized by homogenous agents, a continuum of steady states (SSs) and lack of mobility in every SS. We show that introducing (even a little) heterogeneity in order to generate SS mobility shrinks the SS set dramatically. Mobile SSs are generically locally unique and finite in number. Sufficient conditions for global uniqueness and convergence of competitive equilibrium dynamics are provided. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.