Economic mobility
A bunch of US policy institutes put their heads together and came up with a report (PDF) on economic mobility in the United States. Page seven shows an international comparison based on the relationship between parents' and children's incomes. The Nordic countries and Canada do well by this measure, Britain and the US poorly. Finland is third after Denmark and Norway, with 2.6 times more mobility than the US. I'd guess that the results are mostly down to income equality and the level and cost of education.
(Via Kevin Drum.)
1 comment:
I'd guess that the results are mostly down to income equality and the level and cost of education.
Yep, sounds plausible. I reckon one part of the explanation is indeed statistical, i.e. due to small income differences and the broad Nordic middle classes. As for education, I'd stress that it's namely the access to decent primary education that matters to social mobility - the world has known a plenty of countries that provide the higher education for nothing, yet some of them are certainly more stratified than the Anglosaxons.
Here is a readable study on the same theme, and here some critic of it.
Post a Comment