Differential fertility, intergenerational occupational mobility, and change in the occupational distribution: Some elementary interrelationships

Relationships between differential fertility, intergenerational mobility, and change in the occupational distribution are formalized in a vector equation. Analysis of implications of differential fertility and intergenerational mobility patterns for change in the occupational distribution is possible in terms of components of the equations. While a process of intergenerational mobility is, by itself, “equilibrium-seeking” (in the sense of the “Formal Theory of Social Mobility”), it is seen that, when differential fertility is taken into account, the inter-generational change process is, in general, neither “equilibrium-seeking” nor “equilibrium-maintaining.” Intergenerational mobility directly attributable to differential fertility and change in the occupational distribution may be separated from mobility attributable to “competition” or to other factors. The extent of latter type of mobility is seen to be relatively stable from country to country, whereas the extent of mobility due to differential fertility and change in the occupational distribution varies substantially.