
The Life Course Dynamics of Affluence - apsec112
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0116370
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elbigbad
Abstract

Social science research finds that the only group to have experienced real
economic gains over the past four decades is the top 20 percent of the income
distribution. This finding, along with greater awareness of growing
inequality, has renewed interest in mobility research that identifies how
individuals and their progeny move into and out of upper versus lower income
categories. In this study a new mobility methodology is proposed using life
course concepts and life table statistical techniques. Panel data from a
prospective national sample of the U.S. population age 25 to 60 are analyzed
to estimate the extent of mobility associated with top percentiles in the
income distribution. Empirical results suggest high mobility associated with
top-level income. For example, 11 percent of the population is found to occupy
the top one percentile for one or more years between the ages of 25 and 60.
The study findings suggest that many experience short-term and/or intermittent
mobility into top-level income, versus a smaller set that persist within top-
level income over many consecutive years. Implications of the findings are
discussed in terms of inequality buffering, opportunity versus insecurity, and
the demographics of income inequality.

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Domenic_S
Lots of claims not being sourced in that abstract.

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adenadel
Abstracts typically do not include citations. They are left for the body of
the article.

