Submitted Abstract
The aim of my research project is to investigate whether and how social mobility in the long run influences inequality and whether institutions influence social mobility, in order to better understand the role of public policy interventions on the enhancement of social equality.I will collect data starting from the XIX century to measure the rate of social mobility by applying both the traditional and the Clark methods. The application of both methods on the same set of data will contribute to the debate on the accuracy and best option of methods and models that should be used to compute the social mobility rate. In addition, I will investigate the impact that different educational and health systems had in promoting social mobility. Starting from what we already know, I will focus on the analysis of the impact that education policies had in the past in different countries. I will focus my attention also on public policies that provide free access to health care because they could alleviate inequality and increase mobility due to the fact that even poor people have the possibility to stay in health and provide health assistance to their children. In addition I would like to investigate whether the use of internet on a large scale has an impact on social mobility and whether the cultural background individuals have could play a role in preventing them to find new opportunities to enhance their social status. Access to internet is very widespread in many countries, and understanding whether policy makers can take advantage of it could open a window for future interventions. My project aims at providing evidence on the possibility to reduce inequality through public policies rather than only tax and transfers interventions.