Does rural people socially mobile? evidence from northern region of Malaysia

Inspired by the idea of promoting equality opportunities across individuals can enhance economic growth through the allocation of human resource based on their best use, we examine the extent of inter-generational social mobility in Northern region of Malaysia. Using both descriptive and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimation, we analyze the possibility of income and occupation change of the poor households in rural areas. The findings demonstrate that both level of education and type of occupation reflect a significant improvement of inter-generational social mobility. Interestingly, the findings also indicate that social mobility in Malaysia is relatively higher than in other countries where more space and equal opportunities are enjoyed by all walks of life in the nation.