  This paper presents a model where intergenerational occupational mobility is
the joint outcome of three main determinants: income incentives, equality of
opportunity and changes in the composition of occupations. The model
rationalizes the use of transition matrices to measure mobility, which allows
for the identification of asymmetric mobility patterns and for the formulation
of a specific mobility index for each determinant. Italian children born in
1940-1951 had a lower mobility with respect to those born after 1965. The
steady mobility for children born after 1965, however, covers a lower
structural mobility in favour of upper-middle classes and a higher downward
mobility from upper-middle classes. Equality of opportunity was far from the
perfection but steady for those born after 1965. Changes in income incentives
instead played a major role, leading to a higher downward mobility from
upper-middle classes and lower upward mobility from the lower class.
