Why Inequality Lowers Social Mobility

Anybody who's been in the work force for awhile should have observed that even if someone attains a high status because of their own efforts and talents, that often does not apply to their offspring. But their offspring are able to reap the benefits of their progenitors success, crowding out people with more potential from less privilaged backgrounds.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2014/05/why-inequality-lowers-social-mobility.html

http://milescorak.com/2014/05/14/joseph-fishkins-book-bottlenecks-explains-why-inequality-lowers-social-mobility/

Joseph Fishkin’s book, “Bottlenecks,” explains why inequality lowers social mobility, by Miles Corak: [The Brookings Institution has been having an online discussion of Bottlenecks: A New Theory of Equal Opportunity, a book by Joseph Fishkin. This post is a re-blog of my contribution, "Money: a Bottleneck with Bite."]

... So far, it has been politically convenient to focus on upward mobility of children from the bottom of the income distribution, measured in some absolute sense, because it puts broader issues of the influence of inequality to one side.

The mobility-only approach puts the onus of the problem on the poor—their incomes, their work ethic, their schooling, their fertility choices, their parenting strategies—and abstracts from the broader context within which they must engage, define themselves, and raise their children. The rich are not part of this story.

But Professor Fishkin is right: “anyone concerned with equal opportunity ought also to be concerned with limiting inequality of income and wealth.” ...

-----

This is what sticks in the throat about the rise in inequality: the knowledge that the more unequal our societies become, the more we all become prisoners of that inequality. The well-off feel that they must strain to prevent their children from slipping down the income ladder. The poor see the best schools, colleges, even art clubs and ballet classes, disappearing behind a wall of fees or unaffordable housing.

-----

Money is a significant bottleneck.

-----