Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/82541 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2010:19
Publisher: 
Uppsala University, Department of Economics, Uppsala
Abstract: 
The first aim of this paper is to clarify the differences and rela-tionships between cumulative advantage/disadvantage and the Matthew ef-fect. Its second aim, which is also its main contribution, is not only to present a new measure of the Matthew effect, but also to show how to esti-mate this effect from data and how to make statistical inference. We argue that one should utilize the positivity of the natural logarithm of the largest generalized eigenvalue for a non-linear dynamic process as evidence when claiming that the Matthew effect is present in the dynamic process that gene-rates individuals'; socio-economic life-courses. Thus, our measure of the Matthew effect focuses on the dynamic process that generates socio-economic inequality and not on the outcome of this process.
Subjects: 
cumulative advantage
cumulative disadvantage
dynamic process
inequality
inter-individual change
intra-individual change
life-course
Matthew effect and socio-economic status
JEL: 
C02
D63
I31
Z13
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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