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
Wealth as a driver of income and consumption mobility in the United States
June 7, 2023
June 7, 2023
New research suggests that social circles affect upward mobility among U.S. children and young adults
September 7, 2022
September 7, 2022
Race and the lack of intergenerational economic mobility in the United States
February 18, 2020
February 18, 2020
Factsheet: What the research says about the economic impacts of reproductive care
June 27, 2022
June 27, 2022
Explore Content in Economic Mobility403
How local barriers to migration shape relocation and earnings in the wake of china trade shocks
July 5, 2017
July 5, 2017
Up from slavery? African American intergenerational economic mobility since 1880
June 13, 2017
June 13, 2017
The student loan crisis is fueled by a weak labor market
April 26, 2017
April 26, 2017
Seminar Series: Poor Little Rich Kids? The Determinants of the Intergenerational Transmission of Wealth (Invitation only)
May 10, 2017 12:15PM - 1:30PM
A new way to look at how U.S. firms affect their workers’ pay now and in the future
April 12, 2017
April 12, 2017
Do U.S. women choose low-paid occupations, or do low-paid occupations choose them?
April 3, 2017
April 3, 2017
Seminar Series: Parenthood and the gender wage gap (Invitation only)
March 15, 2017 12:15PM - 1:30PM
Are we better off than our parents?
The data that underscores the fading “American dream”
December 12, 2016
December 12, 2016
The importance of equitable growth to absolute mobility in the United States
December 8, 2016
December 8, 2016
The fading American dream: trends in absolute income mobility since 1940
December 8, 2016
December 8, 2016
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