Comparison of intergenerational income mobility in South Korea and the United States: Period changes between 1980-1995 and 1996-2015

Despite attention in the literature of intergenerational mobility (IGM) and the welfare state, it remains unclear about how "small" welfare states, South Korea and the United States in particular, play a role in promoting levels of IGM. This article compares levels of IGM using intergenerational elasticity (IGE) of income as well as alternative mobility measures during two study periods (1980-1995 and 1996-2015) between Korea and the US. Data come from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study in Korea and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics in the US. The article found no period effects on IGE in both countries; however, the Korean IGE decreased and the US's IGE increased. These results confirm that Korea is more mobile than the US. Implications for the observed between-country differences in IGE levels in relation to sociocultural and institutional contexts of the welfare state are discussed.