Economic Mobility

Economic Mobility: Research & Ideas on Strengthening Families, Communities & the Economy

Economic Mobility: Research & Ideas on Strengthening Families, Communities & the Economy is a new publication released by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The authors of the essays in this volume explore a range of issues and concepts central to understanding how—and how well—people are able to move economically.

Foreword

Janet Yellen, Chair, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
The Importance of Economic Mobility (PDF)

Introduction

Ray Boshara, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and David Buchholz, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Economic Mobility: An Overview (PDF)

Section 1: Perspectives on Economic Mobility

Raj Chetty, Stanford University
Paper: Improving Opportunities for Economic Mobility: New Evidence and Policy Lessons (PDF)

Scott Winship, Manhattan Institute
Paper: The State of Economic Mobility and Why It Matters (PDF)

Katherine S. Newman, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Paper: The Subjective Meaning of Mobility and Its Implications for Policy Solutions (PDF)

Lael Brainard, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Paper: Coming of Age in the Great Recession (PDF)

Joseph E. Stiglitz, Roosevelt Institute and Columbia University
Paper: Fed Policy, Inequality, and Equality of Opportunity (PDF)

Section 2: Economic Mobility & Families

Neil Howe, LifeCourse Associates, and Diana Elliott, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Paper: A Generational Perspective on Living Standards: Where We’ve Been and Prospects for the Future (PDF)

Rueben Finighan, University of Melbourne, and Robert Putnam, Harvard University
Paper: A Country Divided: The Growing Opportunity Gap in America (PDF)

Fabian T. Pfeffer, University of Michigan, and Alexandra Killewald, Harvard University
Paper: Intergenerational Correlations in Wealth (PDF)

Meta Brown, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Matthew Mazewski, Columbia University
Paper: Stepping Stone or Quicksand? The Role of Consumer Debt in the U.S. Geography of Economic Mobility (PDF)

Anthony Hannagan, U.S. Financial Diaries, and Jonathan Morduch, New York University and U.S. Financial Diaries
Paper: Income Gains and Month-to-Month Income Volatility: Household Evidence from the U.S. Financial Diaries (PDF)

Section 3: Economic Mobility & Communities

Robert J. Sampson, Harvard University
Paper: Individual and Community Economic Mobility in the Great Recession Era: The Spatial Foundations of Persistent Inequality (PDF)

Rucker C. Johnson, University of California, Berkeley
Paper: Can Schools Level the Intergenerational Playing Field? Lessons from Equal Educational Opportunity Policies (PDF)

Todd Swanstrom, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Henry S. Webber, Washington University in St. Louis, and Molly W. Metzger, Washington University in St. Louis
Paper: Rebound Neighborhoods in Older Industrial Cities: The Case of St. Louis (PDF)

Molly W. Metzger, Washington University in St. Louis, and Danilo Pelletiere, District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development
Paper: Patterns of Housing Voucher Use Revisited: Segregation and Section 8 in 2013 (PDF)

Section 4: Economic Mobility & the Economy

Gustavo A. Marrero, Universidad de La Laguna, and Juan G. Rodríguez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Paper: Inequality … of Opportunity and Economic Performance (PDF)

Eric A. Hanushek, Stanford University, and Ludger Woessmann, University of Munich
Paper: Skills, Mobility, and Growth (PDF)

Richard Freeman, Harvard University and National Bureau of Economic Research, Eunice Han, Wellesley College and National Bureau of Economic Research, David Madland, Center for American Progress, and Brendan V. Duke, Center for American Progress
Paper: How Does Declining Unionism Affect the American Middle Class and Intergenerational Mobility (PDF)

Jeff Larrimore, Federal Reserve Board, Jacob Mortenson, Georgetown University and the Joint Committee on Taxation, and David Splinter, Joint Committee on Taxation
Paper: Income and Earnings Mobility in U.S. Tax Data (PDF)


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