title: INTERGENERATIONAL OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY IN BRITAIN AND THE U.S. SINCE 1850: COMMENT.
abstract: Using historical census and survey data, Long and Ferrie (forthcoming) found a significant decline in social mobility in the United States from 1880 to 1973. We present two critiques of the Long-Ferrie study. First, the data quality of the Long-Ferrie study is more limiting than the authors acknowledge. Second, and more critically, they applied a method ill-suited for measuring social mobility of farmers in a comparative study between 1880 and 1973, a period in which the proportion of farmers dramatically declined in the U.S. We show that Long and Ferrie's main conclusion is all driven by this misleading result for farmers.
authors: Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research, 426 Thompson Street, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Xie
authors: Alexandra
authors: A
authors: Killewald
keywords: Census data; Social mobility; U.S. history
references: AJS. 2009 Jan;114(4):977-1036
references: 19824300
references: Am Econ Rev. 2013 Aug;103(5):2003-2020
references: 23970805