Among the economists, it is commonly held that US people do not experience high income mobility. This is true. But the question of whether US people have lower income or social mobility compared to european countries has no definitive answer. The gender gap has never been considered. Between-countries analyses have not been supplemented by within-countries inequality-mobility relationship over time. The former is inconsistent with the latter. Measurement issues and statistical artifacts need to be better understood. Regardless, what is known as the Great Gatsby curve is that the higher the social inequalities and the lower the income mobility. The evidence for it has been generally well supported (Blanden, 2013).
But a more relevant information is to look at the low(est) income categories. If this specific portion of the income distribution has similar upward mobility between the US and european countries, then the main assumption behind the Gatsby curve should be seriously revised.
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