More accurate estimates of social mobility suggest that the American dream is not so easily attainable

Inequality and the lack of social mobility are of growing concern to the American public and politicians, with many worried that the ‘American dream’ is becoming increasingly unobtainable for themselves or their children. In new research, Bhashkar Mazumder argues that by using a relatively short window of time to estimate people’s socioeconomic status, researchers have overstated the degree of social mobility in society. He writes that more accurate estimates of intergenerational mobility place the U.S. among the least socially mobile countries in the developed world.