Social Mobility in Five African Countries
Bossuroy, Thomas; Cogneau, Denis (2013), Social Mobility in Five African Countries, The Review of Income and Wealth, Volume 59, Issue Supplement S1, p. S84–S110. 10.1111/roiw.12037
Type
Article accepté pour publication ou publiéDate
2013Journal name
The Review of Income and WealthVolume
Volume 59Number
Issue Supplement S1Publisher
Wiley
Pages
S84–S110
Publication identifier
Metadata
Show full item recordAuthor(s)
Bossuroy, ThomasWorld Bank
Cogneau, Denis

Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
Abstract (EN)
This paper conceptualizes intergenerational occupational mobility between the farm and non-farm sectors in five African countries, measures it using nationally representative household survey data, and analyzes its determinants through a comparative method based on pooled logit regressions. We first analyze intergenerational gross mobility. Until the end of the 1980s, intergenerational flows toward the non-farm sector are high in Côte d' Ivoire and Guinea, flows toward the farm sector are more often observed in Ghana and Uganda, and Madagascar displays less mobility in either direction. The pace of change in occupational structures and the magnitude of labor income dualism between the farm and non-farm sectors appear to explain those differences. We then net out structural change across generations and establish the first measurement of intergenerational net mobility in those five African countries. Ghana and Uganda stand out as relatively more fluid societies. Côte d' Ivoire and Guinea come next while Madagascar shows a particularly high reproduction of occupations. Educational mobility accounts for the Madagascar exception to a large extent, but not for the differences between the other countries. Spatial dualism of employment, i.e. the geographic segregation of farm and non-farm jobs, accounts for most of those remaining differences. We argue that the main determinants of intergenerational mobility, namely income and employment dualisms, likely reflect a historical legacy of different colonial administrations.Subjects / Keywords
Africa; colonization; dualism; inequality; intergenerational mobilityRelated items
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