THE WEALTH MOBILITY OF MEN AND WOMEN DURING THE 1960s AND 1970s

Research on poverty and inequality is dominated by cross-section studies that are useful but disguise change over time. Investigation of change requires longitudinal data, which are relatively rare and expensive. This paper researches wealth mobility in a national sample of 4,255 households monitored in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Older Men and of Mature Women from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. Our measure of wealth is net family assets, excluding automobiles. We present descriptive measures and estimate econometric models of mobility, including persistence in the lower and the upper end of the wealth distribution, and movement into the upper and the lower end of the wealth distribution. The results place inequality measures in perspective and shed light on mechanisms that influence household wealth mobility. The gainers were farmers and those with skilled jobs or high levels of education, while groups that fell behind included single people, blacks, and families disrupted by divorce or death of a spouse.