Unequal chances: family background and economic success

Abstract

Is United States the land of equal opportunity or is playing field tilted in favor of those whose parents are wealthy, well educated, and white? If family background is important in getting ahead, why? And if processes that transmit economic status from parent to child are unfair, could public policy address problem? Unequal Chances provides new answers to these questions by leading economists, sociologists, biologists, behavioral geneticists, and philosophers. New estimates show that intergenerational inequality in United States is far greater than was previously thought. Moreover, while inheritance of wealth and better schooling typically enjoyed by children of well-to-do contribute to this process, these two standard explanations fail to explain extent of intergenerational status transmission. The genetic inheritance of IQ is even less important. Instead, parent-offspring similarities in personality and behavior may play an important role. Race contributes to process, and intergenerational mobility patterns of African Americans and European Americans differ substantially.