Topic Economic Mobility

Economic mobility measures the relationship between a parent and child’s economic outcomes, usually in terms of income. Too often, an individual’s economic outcome in the United States is determined by parental resources, race, and privilege, rather than individual effort and talent. In addition, rising economic inequality over the past several decades means that the consequences of stalled or falling economic mobility have gotten worse. Equitable Growth seeks to understand how today’s inequalities could be foreclosing equality of opportunity for future generations.

Featured work

In Conversation

In Conversation with Miles Corak

Inequality & Mobility
report

U.S. economic mobility trends and outcomes

Inequality & Mobility
post

Wealth as a driver of income and consumption mobility in the United States

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
post

New research suggests that social circles affect upward mobility among U.S. children and young adults

Inequality & Mobility
Vision 2020

Race and the lack of intergenerational economic mobility in the United States

Inequality & MobilityTax & MacroeconomicsLabor
post

Factsheet: What the research says about the economic impacts of reproductive care

Inequality & MobilityFamiliesLabor

Explore Content in Economic Mobility386

grant

The historical shadow of segregation on human capital and upward mobility

Inequality & Mobility
grant

How local barriers to migration shape relocation and earnings in the wake of china trade shocks

Inequality & Mobility
working paper

Up from slavery? African American intergenerational economic mobility since 1880

Inequality & Mobility
post

The persistence of earnings differences among white and black men

Inequality & Mobility
post

A reminder on the current size of the gig economy

LaborInequality & Mobility
post

The student loan crisis is fueled by a weak labor market

Tax & MacroeconomicsInequality & MobilityFamiliesLabor
Past Event

Seminar Series: Poor Little Rich Kids? The Determinants of the Intergenerational Transmission of Wealth (Invitation only)

Inequality & Mobility
post

A new way to look at how U.S. firms affect their workers’ pay now and in the future

Inequality & MobilityLabor
post

Do U.S. women choose low-paid occupations, or do low-paid occupations choose them?

Inequality & MobilityLabor
Past Event

Seminar Series: Parenthood and the gender wage gap (Invitation only)

Inequality & MobilityLabor
post

Are we better off than our parents?

The data that underscores the fading “American dream”

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
post

The importance of equitable growth to absolute mobility in the United States

Inequality & Mobility
Connect with us!

Explore the Equitable Growth network of experts around the country and get answers to today's most pressing questions!

Get in Touch