Economic inequality and social mobility

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the long-term development of income inequality and social mobility. During the twentieth century Landskrona experienced a dramatic socioeconomic transformation that shaped economic inequality and social mobility. There were three main phases in the development of socioeconomic disparities, which reflect development at the national level. The first phase (1905-1930) saw high and fluctuating levels of economic inequality resulting from economic fluctuations relating to industrialization. During the second phase (1930-1969), inequality declined, following national development in terms of social and economic policy. During the last phase (1970-2015), Landskrona experienced economic crisis and deindustrialization marked by an increase in unemployment and a negative migratory balance. When the whole country was affected by new economic policies and a financial crisis in the early 1990s, inequality started to increase steadily until the 2010s, when it reached the same level as before World War II.