HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Surprise: Economic Mobility is Alive and Well in America!

Views:948
@ReasonVids

"You can be concerned that there's not enough economic mobility or enough opportunity, but you don't have to also believe that things are getting worse."

So says Scott Winship of the centrist Brookings Institution.

Despite having a wealth of empirical evidence on his side, it's a lonely position. Researchers, writers, and politicians on the political right (think Charles Murray in his new book Coming Apart and former GOP Sen. Rick Santorum) and on the left (Timothy Noah in The Great Divergence and President Barack Obama) are convinced that economic mobility is shrinking.

In a series of provocative essays in a wide array of outlets, Winship demonstrates that while income inequality may indeed be growing (especially at the top end of things), mobility is not declining. As he wrote earlier this year in an article at National Review,

Using...two National Longitudinal Survey data sets, I can compare children born between 1962 and 1964 to children born between 1980 and 1982, observing their parents' incomes when they were 14 to 16 and their own incomes twelve years later when they were 26 to 28.  

In contrast to [President Obama's and other's claims] of declining mobility, I found that upward mobility from poverty to the middle class rose from 51 percent to 57 percent between the early-'60s cohorts and the early-'80s ones. Rather than assert that mobility has increased, I want to simply say — at this stage of my research (which is ongoing) — that it has not declined.  

If I include households that reported negative or no income, the rise in upward mobility I find is only from 51 percent to 53 percent, which is not a statistically meaningful increase. But the data provide absolutely no evidence that economic mobility declined, whereas the president said it had fallen by ten percentage points.  

Winship sat down with Reason's Nick Gillespie to talk about why people mistake growth in income inequality for decreases in economic mobility and how mobility might be increased from where it's been for the past 40 or 50 years.

About 5.28 minutes.

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher; camera by Jim Epstein and Meredith Bragg.

Visit http://reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

income mobility
,
income
,
inequality
,
economy
,
poverty
,
education
,
brookings
,
brookings institution
,
scott winship
,
nick gillespie
,
libertarian
,
reason
,
reason magazine
,
reason foundation
,
reasontv
,
reason.tv
    Thumbnail for Washington's Parasitic Economy with The Weekly Standard's Andrew Ferguson4:50
    Washington's Parasitic Economy with The Weekly Standard's Andrew Ferguson
    ReasonVids
    1037 views
    Thumbnail for Milton Friedman's 'Free to Choose' Proved Capitalism Is Superior to Socialism6:13
    Milton Friedman's 'Free to Choose' Proved Capitalism Is Superior to Socialism
    ReasonVids
    1006 views
    Thumbnail for The Locavore's Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-Mile Diet5:45
    The Locavore's Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-Mile Diet
    ReasonVids
    900 views
    Thumbnail for Secret Spy Glasses That See Everything | Action Lab Shorts1:00
    Secret Spy Glasses That See Everything | Action Lab Shorts
    invidious
    456 views
    Thumbnail for Celebrating the End of the Fairness Doctrine9:10
    Celebrating the End of the Fairness Doctrine
    ReasonVids
    862 views
    Thumbnail for Gov't grabs elderly man's home; won't give reason4:11
    Gov't grabs elderly man's home; won't give reason
    IJvids
    897 views
    Thumbnail for How Mexico Can Pay for the Wall5:35
    How Mexico Can Pay for the Wall
    AmericanRenaissance
    1902 views
    Thumbnail for 3D printer trends are limiting mainstream acceptance: The 3D printing paradox | Teaching Tech13:18
    3D printer trends are limiting mainstream acceptance: The 3D printing paradox | Teaching Tech
    invidious
    332 views
    Thumbnail for Darth Vader Changes his Mind | Solid jj3:42
    Darth Vader Changes his Mind | Solid jj
    invidious
    404 views
    Thumbnail for How to use Unity's New INPUT System EASILY | BMo9:32
    How to use Unity's New INPUT System EASILY | BMo
    tech.topic
    658 views
    Thumbnail for Bassem Youssef Was 'Egypt's Jon Stewart.' Then He Was Forced To Flee.17:36
    Bassem Youssef Was 'Egypt's Jon Stewart.' Then He Was Forced To Flee.
    ReasonVids
    970 views
    Thumbnail for Is Indiana Ready for Cold Beer at Convenience Stores? Is America Ready to End Prohibition?1:55
    Is Indiana Ready for Cold Beer at Convenience Stores? Is America Ready to End Prohibition?
    ReasonVids
    1010 views
    Thumbnail for Life, Liberty & Viticulture: Bryan Babcock on winemaking, Patrick Henry, & Ayn Rand11:00
    Life, Liberty & Viticulture: Bryan Babcock on winemaking, Patrick Henry, & Ayn Rand
    ReasonVids
    697 views
    Thumbnail for No Asylum: Immigrants Locked Up in U.S. after Fleeing Violence8:23
    No Asylum: Immigrants Locked Up in U.S. after Fleeing Violence
    ReasonVids
    877 views
    Thumbnail for Jewish and Freemasonic Ritual Murder6:23
    Jewish and Freemasonic Ritual Murder
    bestofupgoat
    415 views
    Thumbnail for Gay Activist Jimmy LaSalvia: "Why I Left the GOP (And You Should Too)"8:35
    Gay Activist Jimmy LaSalvia: "Why I Left the GOP (And You Should Too)"
    ReasonVids
    872 views
    Thumbnail for WINTER HOLIDAYS WITH KREW! | ItsFunneh1:21:41
    WINTER HOLIDAYS WITH KREW! | ItsFunneh
    kids.topic
    69 views
    Thumbnail for 1965 Oldsmobile Starfire Commercial with John "Shorty" Powers of NASA1:03
    1965 Oldsmobile Starfire Commercial with John "Shorty" Powers of NASA
    bestofpoal
    1635 views
    Thumbnail for Wasserwaffen Thot Patrol0:55
    Wasserwaffen Thot Patrol
    voatcatbox
    504 views
    Thumbnail for U.S. Government to Facebook: 'Americans Don't Like to Be Spied On'0:21
    U.S. Government to Facebook: 'Americans Don't Like to Be Spied On'
    ReasonVids
    875 views
    Thumbnail for Holy Shit!  I got a video of Peckerwoods arrest.  What a legend.1:07
    Holy Shit! I got a video of Peckerwoods arrest. What a legend.
    bestofupgoat
    187 views
    Thumbnail for Reason.tv's Nanny of the Year 2009!1:21
    Reason.tv's Nanny of the Year 2009!
    ReasonVids
    858 views
    Thumbnail for Gaddafi - the Untold Truth1:00:26
    Gaddafi - the Untold Truth
    bestofvoatxyz
    816 views
    Thumbnail for Leo and Rocko Sing The 2007 Emmy Song | SomePkmn-LovingDude3:07
    Leo and Rocko Sing The 2007 Emmy Song | SomePkmn-LovingDude
    gggknezz123
    343 views
    Thumbnail for Fox News' Juan Williams on School Choice4:58
    Fox News' Juan Williams on School Choice
    ReasonVids
    832 views

points

Permalink
Reply
income mobility
,
income
,
inequality
,
economy
,
poverty
,
education
,
brookings
,
brookings institution
,
scott winship
,
nick gillespie
,
libertarian
,
reason
,
reason magazine
,
reason foundation
,
reasontv
,
reason.tv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle