Justice
What’s Really Behind Economic Mobility?
The American Dream turns on where we live. But it’s job markets and marriage partners—not schools—that make the biggest difference in who climbs the economic ladder.
Children growing up in America today are likely to end up less well-off than their parents. And those of us living in the self-proclaimed land of opportunity are also less likely than most Europeans to move up the economic ladder.
Thanks largely to the pioneering studies of economist Raj Chetty and his collaborators, there is a large and growing body of research on how the places where we live affect our ability to achieve the American Dream. Chetty and company’s research shows that our ability to move up the economic ladder varies substantially across cities and within them as well.