The research will confirm something you likely already know or suspect but which is usually dismissed immediately as Socialism by those who choose to ignore the fact of it. (Science: The fading American dream: Trends in absolute income mobility since 1940)
Aspiring to do better than one's parents
The American dream promises that hard work and opportunity will lead to a better life. Although the specifics of what constitutes a better life vary from generation to generation, one constant is that children expect to do better—or at least to have a good chance at doing better—than their parents. Chetty et al. show that this dream did come true for children born in the middle of the 20th century, but only for half of children born in 1984 (see the Policy Forum by Katz and Krueger). A more even distribution of economic growth, rather than more growth, would allow more children to fulfill their dreams.
- Science
Restoring the income distribution across a wider segment of America isn't emulating Russia but rather that would be emulating America ... back when things were more fair.
Abstract
We estimated rates of “absolute income mobility”—the fraction of children who earn more than their parents—by combining data from U.S. Census and Current Population Survey cross sections with panel data from de-identified tax records. We found that rates of absolute mobility have fallen from approximately 90% for children born in 1940 to 50% for children born in the 1980s. Increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates alone cannot restore absolute mobility to the rates experienced by children born in the 1940s. However, distributing current GDP growth more equally across income groups as in the 1940 birth cohort would reverse more than 70% of the decline in mobility. These results imply that reviving the “American dream” of high rates of absolute mobility would require economic growth that is shared more broadly across the income distribution.
- Science
Science provides a link for the interested student. Science: The fading American dream: Trends in absolute income mobility since 1940 (Full)
The research confirms the basic premise that trickle-down economics never did anything and we don't need an editorial on that but we do need action toward an economic solution which is sound for the entire country rather than just a small segment of it as exists now.
Note: you will find the articles in Science somewhat more terse in presentation than with Science Daily but the depth is there just the same.
Aspiring to do better than one's parents
The American dream promises that hard work and opportunity will lead to a better life. Although the specifics of what constitutes a better life vary from generation to generation, one constant is that children expect to do better—or at least to have a good chance at doing better—than their parents. Chetty et al. show that this dream did come true for children born in the middle of the 20th century, but only for half of children born in 1984 (see the Policy Forum by Katz and Krueger). A more even distribution of economic growth, rather than more growth, would allow more children to fulfill their dreams.
- Science
Restoring the income distribution across a wider segment of America isn't emulating Russia but rather that would be emulating America ... back when things were more fair.
Abstract
We estimated rates of “absolute income mobility”—the fraction of children who earn more than their parents—by combining data from U.S. Census and Current Population Survey cross sections with panel data from de-identified tax records. We found that rates of absolute mobility have fallen from approximately 90% for children born in 1940 to 50% for children born in the 1980s. Increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates alone cannot restore absolute mobility to the rates experienced by children born in the 1940s. However, distributing current GDP growth more equally across income groups as in the 1940 birth cohort would reverse more than 70% of the decline in mobility. These results imply that reviving the “American dream” of high rates of absolute mobility would require economic growth that is shared more broadly across the income distribution.
- Science
Science provides a link for the interested student. Science: The fading American dream: Trends in absolute income mobility since 1940 (Full)
The research confirms the basic premise that trickle-down economics never did anything and we don't need an editorial on that but we do need action toward an economic solution which is sound for the entire country rather than just a small segment of it as exists now.
Note: you will find the articles in Science somewhat more terse in presentation than with Science Daily but the depth is there just the same.
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