<p>Maybe check Clark's work. He allegedly uses long time series.
<a href="http://jasoncollins.org/2014/09/30/the-genetic-basis-of-social-mobility/" rel="nofollow">http://jasoncollins.org/2014/09/30/the-genetic-basis-of-social-mobility/</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-22T17:57:51.217Z
2014-11-22T17:57:51.217Z
Piotr Pieniążek
<p><strong>Regarding income inequality:</strong></p>

<p>Economists used to rely on household surveys in which individuals (or households) reported their earnings, social benefits, etc. Although this is still done, recent studies rely more and more on the income data recorded in the tax files due to its larger coverage and accuracy (especially at the top of the distribution).</p>

<p>You can find the most complete historic series of income (&amp; wealth) inequality based on tax records in the World Wealth and Income Inequality Database:
<a href="http://wid.world/fr/accueil/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://wid.world/fr/accueil/</a></p>

<p>Other sources to compare income inquality and poverty levels across countries and time are:
- The World Bank: <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://data.worldbank.org/</a>
- The UNU-WIDER World Income Inequality Database: <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/project/wiid-world-income-inequality-database" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.wider.unu.edu/project/wiid-world-income-inequality-database</a>
- The Standardized World Income Inequality Database
<a href="http://fsolt.org/swiid/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://fsolt.org/swiid/</a>
- Branko Milanovic's data of Gini coefficients in 1950-2022 for 170 countries: <a href="http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0,,contentMDK:22301380~pagePK:64214825~piPK:64214943~theSitePK:469382,00.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0,,contentMDK:22301380~pagePK:64214825~piPK:64214943~theSitePK:469382,00.html</a></p>

<p>For nice visualizations over time you can see Gap Minder:
- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo</a></p>

<p><strong>Regarding intergenerational income mobility (~social mobility):</strong></p>

<p>The first studies of intergenerational income mobility (i.e. how income levels compare across several generations) relied on household surveys in which retrospective information about parents' income was collected. Then, panel surveys started to be used when they had a sufficient coverage (panel surveys  follow the same individuals -and often their children- over time). </p>

<p>Some examples of long-panels available are: 
- PSID for the US (1968-Today): <a href="https://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/</a> 
- BCS for the UK (1970-Today): <a href="https://bcs70.info/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bcs70.info/</a>
- BHPS for the UK (1991-Today): <a href="https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps</a>
- SOEP for Germany (1984-Today): <a href="https://www.diw.de/en/soep" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.diw.de/en/soep</a></p>

<p>In the last decades some studies of intergenerational mobility have also used income data coming from tax records, linking the files of parents' and their children (see the pioneering work of Miles Corak (1999) for Canada). That is the kind of data that Chetty and coauthors have used.</p>

<p>Gregory Clark and coauthors have been relying on rare surnames and their over-representation in top institutions (e.g. Cambridge and Oxford) to track social mobility over centuries. You can check this work in his website.</p>

<p>Just mentioning that there are works looking at intergenerational mobility of other dimensions besides income, such as wealth (e.g. Clark and Cummins, 2015), educational attainment (e.g. Lindhal et al., 2015), or even attitudes (Dohmen et al., 2011).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-26T13:32:50.447Z
2018-03-26T13:32:50.447Z
Martin FS
<p>I'm interested in income and social mobility. I understand that Piketty's research deals with the the distribution of income over a long time period. I have also seen some of Chetty and Saez's <a href="http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/">research concerning income and social mobility in the US</a>. I'm wondering, what data do Chetty and Saez work use? What other data is potentially available and how far back does it go?</p>

<p>It would be nice to see who could find the data that goes back the farthest. (Also, the data does not necessarily have to be US data.)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-21T02:01:40.760Z
The PSID is standard, I'm guessing you want something longer?
jayk
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-21T17:15:52.847Z
I emailed the team behind the linked article, let's see if I get a response. :)
Jason Nichols
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-21T21:36:37.927Z
Both graphs come from federal tax return data. This has to come through the IRS, and in the past I've been told that you can get this data "but only if you basically sign over your soul." Understandably people have privacy concerns about the IRS handing over their tax returns to researchers en masse.
jayk
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-22T18:12:47.550Z
Also, I'm pretty sure you need security clearance and hence US citizenship.
FooBar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-24T17:12:22.723Z
On this subject, http://obs.rc.fas.harvard.edu/chetty/NSFdataaccess.pdf
jayk
<econometrics><inequality><data-request>
Where can I find data on income and social mobility over time? How far back is data available?
jmbejara
# Where can I find data on income and social mobility over time? How far back is data available?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-11-20)

I'm interested in income and social mobility. I understand that Piketty's research deals with the the distribution of income over a long time period. I have also seen some of Chetty and Saez's [research concerning income and social mobility in the US](http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/). I'm wondering, what data do Chetty and Saez work use? What other data is potentially available and how far back does it go?

It would be nice to see who could find the data that goes back the farthest. (Also, the data does not necessarily have to be US data.)

**Tags:** econometrics, inequality, data-request

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The PSID is standard, I'm guessing you want something longer?  
> **username_2**: I emailed the team behind the linked article, let's see if I get a response. :)  
> **username_1**: Both graphs come from federal tax return data. This has to come through the IRS, and in the past I've been told that you can get this data "but only if you basically sign over your soul." Understandably people have privacy concerns about the IRS handing over their tax returns to researchers en masse.  
> **username_3**: Also, I'm pretty sure you need security clearance and hence US citizenship.  
> **username_1**: On this subject, http://obs.rc.fas.harvard.edu/chetty/NSFdataaccess.pdf  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2014-11-22. Score: 4

Maybe check Clark's work. He allegedly uses long time series.
<http://jasoncollins.org/2014/09/30/the-genetic-basis-of-social-mobility/>


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-03-26. Score: 1

**Regarding income inequality:**

Economists used to rely on household surveys in which individuals (or households) reported their earnings, social benefits, etc. Although this is still done, recent studies rely more and more on the income data recorded in the tax files due to its larger coverage and accuracy (especially at the top of the distribution).

You can find the most complete historic series of income (& wealth) inequality based on tax records in the World Wealth and Income Inequality Database:
<http://wid.world/fr/accueil/>

Other sources to compare income inquality and poverty levels across countries and time are:
- The World Bank: <https://data.worldbank.org/>
- The UNU-WIDER World Income Inequality Database: <https://www.wider.unu.edu/project/wiid-world-income-inequality-database>
- The Standardized World Income Inequality Database
<http://fsolt.org/swiid/>
- Branko Milanovic's data of Gini coefficients in 1950-2022 for 170 countries: <http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0,,contentMDK:22301380~pagePK:64214825~piPK:64214943~theSitePK:469382,00.html>

For nice visualizations over time you can see Gap Minder:
- <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo>

**Regarding intergenerational income mobility (~social mobility):**

The first studies of intergenerational income mobility (i.e. how income levels compare across several generations) relied on household surveys in which retrospective information about parents' income was collected. Then, panel surveys started to be used when they had a sufficient coverage (panel surveys follow the same individuals -and often their children- over time).

Some examples of long-panels available are:
- PSID for the US (1968-Today): <https://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/>
- BCS for the UK (1970-Today): <https://bcs70.info/>
- BHPS for the UK (1991-Today): <https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps>
- SOEP for Germany (1984-Today): <https://www.diw.de/en/soep>

In the last decades some studies of intergenerational mobility have also used income data coming from tax records, linking the files of parents' and their children (see the pioneering work of Miles Corak (1999) for Canada). That is the kind of data that Chetty and coauthors have used.

Gregory Clark and coauthors have been relying on rare surnames and their over-representation in top institutions (e.g. Cambridge and Oxford) to track social mobility over centuries. You can check this work in his website.

Just mentioning that there are works looking at intergenerational mobility of other dimensions besides income, such as wealth (e.g. Clark and Cummins, 2015), educational attainment (e.g. Lindhal et al., 2015), or even attitudes (Dohmen et al., 2011).


---

