The Impact of Intergenerational Mobility on Msa Growth in the United States

This paper explores the relationship between economic growth and intergenerational mobility in the United States. Data from metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. is used to examine how two measures of intergenerational mobility impact growth rates. More precisely, I examine how absolute income mobility and relative income mobility are related the growth rate of real gross metropolitan product (RGMP) from 2001 to 2011. I find that absolute mobility has a positive relationship with RGMP growth over the time period, and that relative mobility exhibits a negative relationship with RGMP. Results are found to be robust to two stage least squares estimation.