> We also find two further interesting pieces of evidence. First, we show that intergenerational mobility in the 15th century was much lower than at present – the intergenerational earnings elasticity between two successive generations was estimated to be between 0.8 and 0.9, thus depicting a quasi-immobile society in 1427. It is plausible, though we do not have direct evidence for this, that earning elasticity was close to 1 until the 20th century (before the Italian industrial revolution and mass schooling) and lower in the subsequent period. This may explain why we still find some degree of inheritance of socioeconomic status after six centuries.
So Yglesias, playing the "debunked!" card[0], says "look--here is proof that our estimates of intergenerational income mobility are TOTALLY WRONG!" In fact, there's a good chance that current studies (showing high mobility) are perfectly consistent with this paper, since it found that moblity rose dramatically since the beginning of the studied period.
> We also find two further interesting pieces of evidence. First, we show that intergenerational mobility in the 15th century was much lower than at present – the intergenerational earnings elasticity between two successive generations was estimated to be between 0.8 and 0.9, thus depicting a quasi-immobile society in 1427. It is plausible, though we do not have direct evidence for this, that earning elasticity was close to 1 until the 20th century (before the Italian industrial revolution and mass schooling) and lower in the subsequent period. This may explain why we still find some degree of inheritance of socioeconomic status after six centuries.
So Yglesias, playing the "debunked!" card[0], says "look--here is proof that our estimates of intergenerational income mobility are TOTALLY WRONG!" In fact, there's a good chance that current studies (showing high mobility) are perfectly consistent with this paper, since it found that moblity rose dramatically since the beginning of the studied period.
[0] http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/13/debunked-and-well-refut...