• DOI:10.1086/260831
Corpus ID: 153939481

An Equilibrium Theory of the Distribution of Income and Intergenerational Mobility

@article{Becker1979AnET,
  title={An Equilibrium Theory of the Distribution of Income and Intergenerational Mobility},
  author={G. Becker and N. Tomes},
  journal={Journal of Political Economy},
  year={1979},
  volume={87},
  pages={1153 - 1189}
}

• G. Becker, N. Tomes
• Published 1979
• Economics
• Journal of Political Economy

The theory of inequality and intergenerational mobility presented in this essay assumes that each family maximizes a utility function spanning several generations. Utility depends on the consumption of parents and on the quantity and quality of their children. The income of children is raised when they receive more human and nonhuman capital from their parents. Their income is also raised by their "endowment" of genetically determined race, ability, and other characteristics, family reputation… Expand