Is the American dream dead for young Americans?
Research published by the Equality of Opportunity project suggests that only 50 percent of children born in the 1980s are earning more than their parents. This is down from 90 percent of children born in the 1940s.
There are good arguments that the full picture may not be as bleak as it seems. What we can all agree on, however, is that too many poor children remain poor in adulthood. Nearly half of all parents in the bottom quintile of family income have children that have family income in the bottom quintile during adulthood.
What explains this lack of upward mobility for America’s poor? There are a number of possible explanations such as a lack of access to education or a side effect of growing up in a poor neighborhood.
Are there other possible explanations? I don’t think enough consideration has been given to the role of the growth of occupational licensing laws.
Continue reading at The Hill.
Edward Timmons, Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Knee Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation at St. Francis University, writes frequently on the history and rise of occupational licensing and it’s relation to economic mobility.
Economics of Flourishing
Is the American dream dead for young Americans?
Research published by the Equality of Opportunity project suggests that only 50 percent of children born in the 1980s are earning more than their parents. This is down from 90 percent of children born in the 1940s.
There are good arguments that the full picture may not be as bleak as it seems. What we can all agree on, however, is that too many poor children remain poor in adulthood. Nearly half of all parents in the bottom quintile of family income have children that have family income in the bottom quintile during adulthood.
What explains this lack of upward mobility for America’s poor? There are a number of possible explanations such as a lack of access to education or a side effect of growing up in a poor neighborhood.
Are there other possible explanations? I don’t think enough consideration has been given to the role of the growth of occupational licensing laws.
Continue reading at The Hill.
Edward Timmons
Edward Timmons, Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Knee Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation at St. Francis University, writes frequently on the history and rise of occupational licensing and it’s relation to economic mobility.
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