No label defined (Q4376948)

This monograph is the author's thesis, written at the University of Cologne. It is concerned with the measurement of income mobility and related statistical measures using data of the ``Sozio-ökonomisches Panel (SOEP) for Germany.'' Prior to estimating and presenting the results, the author surveys critically common mobility measures. The focus is on both transition matrix mobility measures and inequality reduction mobility measures. The latter measure the degree of reduction in inequality occurring when the accounting period is extended. Given that data from all individuals of the population are not available one has to resort to sampling. But this implies that a sampling error will always be present in the estimates. It is the author's attempt to develop statistical methods for estimating the standard errors of transition matrix mobility measures and inequality reduction mobility measures. In the empirical part of the book, the author investigates the influence of gender and age on short-run earnings mobility in Germany for the period 1983-1993. His basic findings are that many apparant differences or changes in earnings mobility are due to sampling errors. Therefore, the author recommends to report confidence intervals whenever possible.