As Rich-Poor Gap Widens in the U.S., Class Mobility Stalls

As Rich-Poor Gap Widens in the U.S., Class Mobility Stalls

As Rich-Poor Gap Widens in the U.S., Class Mobility Stalls

Those in Bottom Rung Enjoy Better Odds in Europe; How Parents Confer an Edge Immigrants See Fast Advance
By DAVID WESSEL , Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 13, 2005; Page A1

"... the reality of mobility in America is more complicated than the myth. As the gap between rich and poor has widened since 1970, the odds that a child born in poverty will climb to wealth -- or a rich child will fall into the middle class -- remain stuck. Despite the spread of affirmative action, the expansion of community colleges and the other social change designed to give people of all classes a shot at success, Americans are no more or less likely to rise above, or fall below, their parents' economic class than they were 35 years ago.

Although Americans still think of their land as a place of exceptional opportunity -- in contrast to class-bound Europe -- the evidence suggests otherwise. And scholars have, over the past decade, come to see America as a less mobile society than they once believed.

As recently as the late 1980s, economists argued that not much advantage passed from parent to child, perhaps as little as 20%. By that measure, a rich man's grandchild would have barely any edge over a poor man's grandchild.

'Almost all the earnings advantages or disadvantages of ancestors are wiped out in three generations,' wrote Gary Becker, the University of Chicago economist and Nobel laureate, in 1986. 'Poverty would not seem to be a 'culture' that persists for several generations.'"

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