Economic and Social Mobility New Directions for Data, Research, and Policy (2025) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Summary
Summary
Pages 1-16
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
While evidence on relative mobility trends over time in the United States is inconclusive, comparative studies indicate that relative mobility is lower in the United States than in other affluent democracies. Higher relative mobility suggests a more open society, where success is less influenced by family background; unlike absolute mobility, measures of relative mobility require that for any upward move to happen, a downward move must "free up" a space in the socioeconomic hierarchy.
|
From page 2... ...
Higher inequality could reduce intergenerational mobility through a variety of mechanisms, including disparities in parental investments, more unequal access to education, residential segregation, and growing political influence of the wealthy. While a full exploration of the causal links between inequality and mobility remains a target for future research, current levels of income inequality in the United States likely hamper intergenerational mobility.
|
From page 3... ...
It also discusses the data infrastructure needed to support an extensive research agenda on economic and social mobility. Although labor markets play a key role in shaping intergenerational mobility, the committee, based on the available evidence, decided to focus on foundational "premarket" factors that feed into the labor market.
|
From page 4... ...
Although racial/ethnic differences in parenting behaviors have been well documented, these relationships largely reflect disparities in parental socioeconomic resources and associated differential selection into parenthood, family formation, and subsequent child-rearing contexts, as well as by experiences with racism and discrimination (which are typically unobserved in existing quantitative studies)
|
From page 5... ...
Future research should expand the use of existing longitudinal, administrative, and survey data, and further employ quasi-experimental and experimental approaches, when possible, to better understand the causal mechanisms through which family context, parenting behaviors, and child development affect economic and social mobility, as well as potential heterogeneity in such relations for demographic subpopulations [Recommendation 21]
|
From page 6... ...
These initiatives target residents of disadvantaged communities with employment opportunities, training, and support services and/or provide resources to foster job creation and economic development, and they have shown success in improving employment, earnings, and academic outcomes for participants. However, evidence on the effectiveness of place-based programs that have not targeted people in disadvantaged communities and have not provided a range of supports has been mixed [Conclusion 3-3]
|
From page 7... ...
Although quantitative research using survey and administrative data can powerfully identify patterns and relationships, qualitative research can help make sense of what is being seen and to apply the evidence to make more efficient policy investments. Fourth, while much of the research discussed by the committee is based on programs estimating the impact of residential moves, more needs to be known about the most effective ways of making place-based investments in communities or entire cities and regions.
|
From page 8... ...
Postsecondary educational attainment -- and, especially, the attainment of a 4-year bachelor's degree -- is central to the understanding of economic and social mobility in the United States. On the one hand, education is an avenue for intergenerational persistence, if advantaged families can afford more and better education for their children; on the other hand, postsecondary education can be the main vehicle for both absolute and relative mobility if attaining a degree detaches individuals from their social origins and provides a pathway to economic well-being.
|
From page 9... ...
postsecondary education is a replicator of inequality rather than an engine for economic mobility. In these analyses, attention should be paid to variations in returns across the heterogeneous postsecondary sector [Recommendation 4-2]
|
From page 10... ...
WEALTH, CREDIT, AND DEBT A growing body of research documents low levels of wealth mobility in the United States relative to other countries, coupled with a high degree of inequality in the concentration of wealth at the top of the distribution and stark racial/ethnic gaps in wealth that have grown over time. In comparison to its peer countries, the United States also stands out as the country with the highest level of wealth inequality and the top concentration in wealth.
|
From page 11... ...
Wealth accumulation and intergenerational wealth transmission are shaped by multiple institutional and structural features of society that have not been and are still not race neutral -- the segregated housing market and racialized lending practices are prime examples. The sources of disparities among racial/ethnic minority groups have changed shape over time, and they require ever more critical analysis, as direct forms of legal exclusion from asset accumulation have morphed into less explicit but potentially equally impactful ways of reproducing racial/ethnic wealth gaps, such as via weakened homeownership rights or predatory lending practices [Conclusion 5-2]
|
From page 12... ...
Achieving this goal requires cooperation among the many stakeholders in the data ecosystem, including executive and congressional branches of government, federal statistical agencies, state and local government officials, the research community, potential private funding organizations, and the public. Linked administrative data form the backbone of data resources used to study intergenerational mobility; however, research still requires survey data for understanding factors SUMMARY - 12
|
From page 13... ...
Data access laws, such as Title 13 and Title 26, need to be modernized to facilitate research, as they have proven to be inadequate amid the recent growth of research using linked administrative data. It is critical that researchers be given tiered access to new blended data to evaluate the policies surrounding economic and social mobility.
|
From page 14... ...
Many of the policies considered by the committee focus on improving the well-being of the disadvantaged, which, as a result may improve both absolute and relative mobility. Alternatively, policies reducing benefits for higherincome households may improve relative mobility only because of the downward impacts for these households.
|
From page 15... ...
The evidence base on this type of approach is limited, and compared with safety net approaches, less is known about how to reform mainstream institutions and what the outcomes of such changes would be. Policies are often thought of as a means of enhancing economic and social mobility, but they have often been used for the opposite purpose.
|
From page 16... ...
history, even as many observers may rightly argue that it has been, at times and for many groups, severely constrained. This report provides a forward-looking framework for data, research, and policy initiatives to boost upward mobility and better fulfill promises of opportunity and advancement for all members of U.S.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.