Income and Wealth Mobility among the Wealthiest: The Case of Income Tax Filers in Colombia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.le.n104a359194Keywords:
Mobility, inequality, gender, tax, ColombiaAbstract
This article examines income and wealth mobility, as well as changes in income inequality in Colombia from 2014 to 2022, with particular emphasis on gender and taxation. Given that Colombia is characterized by one of the highest levels of income inequality globally, economic mobility emerges as a crucial issue for analysis. Our results suggest that there is a dual nature of economic mobility. On the one hand, there is significant income mobility, indicating that within less than a decade, individuals are likely to move from the bottom to the top income percentiles. On the other hand, this mobility does not effectively reduce income inequality or gender disparities. Specifically, income mobility is more pronounced among men, who experienced higher gains or milder losses and are overrepresented in the top income percentiles. Taxation appears to have a limited impact in mitigating income inequality, suggesting the need for further research in this area.
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Auten, G., Gee, G., & Turner, N. (2013). New Perspectives on Income Mobility and Inequality. National Tax Journal, 66(4), 893-912. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24370049
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Copyright (c) 2025 Akee, R., Jones, M. R., & Porter, S. R. (2017). Adding Insult to Injury: Racial Disparity in an Era of Increasing Income Inequality [Working Paper No. CARRA-WP- 2017-01]. the United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2017/adrm/carra-wp-2017-01.html Auten, G., & Gee, G. (2009). Income Mobility in the United States: New Evidence from Income Tax Data. National tax journal, 62(2), 301-328. https://ideas.repec.org/a/ntj/journl/v62y2009i2p301-28.html Auten, G., Gee, G., & Turner, N. (2013). New Perspectives on Income Mobility and Inequality. National Tax Journal, 66(4), 893-912. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24370049 Bradbury, K. (2016). Levels and Trends in the Income Mobility of US families, 1977− 2012 [Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Working Papers. No. 16-8]. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/research-department-working-paper/2016/levels-and-trends-in-the-income-mobility-of-us-families-1977-2012.aspx Carroll, D. R., & Chen, A. (2016, 20 June). Income Inequality Matters, But Mobility Is Just as Important [Economic Commentary]. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-ec-201606 Conley, D., & Glauber, R. (2007). Family Background, Race, and Labor Market Inequality. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 609(1), 134-152. https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v609y2007i1p134-152.html de la Maisonneuve, C. (2017). Towards More Inclusive Growth in Colombia [OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 1423]. OECD https://doi.org/10.1787/334902e0-en Federman, S., Sarid, A., & Yaish, M. (2023). The Intragenerational Mobility of The Top Income Earners during Financial Crises, a Story of a Cohort. Advances in Life Course Research, 58, 100565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2023.100565 García, S., Rodríguez, C., Sánchez, F., & Bedoya, J. G. (2015). La lotería de la cuna: La movilidad social a través de la educación en los municipios de Colombia [Documentos CEDE, No. 13816). Universidad de los Andes. https://ideas.repec.org/p/col/000089/013816.html Galvis–Aponte, L. A & Meisel, A. (2014). Aspectos regionales de la movilidad social y la igualdad de oportunidades en Colombia. Documentos de Trabajo Sobre Economía Regional y Urbana; No. 196. https://www.banrep.gov.co/sites/default/files/publicaciones/archivos/dtser_196.pdf Genicot, G., Ray, D., & Concha-Arriagada, C. (2024). Upward Mobility in Developing Countries (NBER Working Paper No. w32391). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w32391 Jianakoplos, N. A., & Menchik, P. L. (1997). Wealth mobility. Review of Economics and Statistics, 79(1), 18-31. https://econpapers.repec.org/article/tprrestat/v_3a79_3ay_3a1997_3ai_3a1_3ap_3a18-31.htm Larrimore, J., Mortenson, J., & Splinter, D. (2020). Presence and persistence of poverty in US tax data [NBERN Working Paper No. c14440). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w26966/w26966.pdf Londoño, J. (2012). Income and Wealth At the Top in Colombia: An Exploration of Tax Records 1993-2010 (Public Policy and Development Master Dissertation). Paris School of Economics, http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/LondonoVelez2012MasterThesis.pdf McKernan, S. M., & Ratcliffe, C. E. (2009). Asset Building for Today's Stability and Tomorrow's Security. New England Community Developments, (2). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2205912 Meschede, T., Thomas, H., Mann, A., Stagg, A., & Shapiro, T. (2016). Wealth Mobility of Families Raising Children in the Twenty-First Century. Race and Social Problems, 8, 77-92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-016-9161-1 Neidhöfer, G. (2019). Intergenerational Mobility and the Rise and Fall of Inequality: Lessons from Latin America. The Journal of Economic Inequality, 17(4), 499-520. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-019-09415-9 Nguyen, C. V., & Nguyen, L. T. (2020). Intra-generational and Intergenerational Social Mobility: Evidence from Vietnam. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 55(3), 370-397. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909619876320 Savegnago, M. (2016). igmobil: A command for intergenerational mobility analysis in Stata. The Stata Journal, 16(2), 386-402. https://ideas.repec.org/a/tsj/stataj/y16y2016i2p386-402.html Steckel, R. H., & Krishnan, J. (2006). The Wealth Mobility of Men and Women During the 1960s and 1970s. Review of Income and Wealth, 52(2), 189-212. https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/revinw/v52y2006i2p189-212.html Piketty, T., & Zucman, G. (2014). Capital is Back: Wealth-income Ratios in Rich Countries 1700–2010. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129(3), 1255-1310. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qju018 Plewis, I., & Bartley, M. (2014). Intra-generational Social Mobility and Educational Qualifications. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 36, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2013.10.001 Splinter, D. (2022). Income Mobility and Inequality: Adult‐Level Measures from the Us Tax Data Since 1979. Review of Income and Wealth, 68(4), 906-921. https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12501 Splinter, D., Diamond, J., & Bryant, V. (2009). Income Volatility and Mobility: US Income Tax Data, 1999-2007. In Proceedings. Annual Conference on Taxation and Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the National Tax Association (Vol. 102, pp. 1-10). National Tax Association. https://www.jstor.org/stable/prancotamamnta.102 World Bank. (2021). Building an Equitable Society in Colombia. World Bank.
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