Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'economic mobility'

The most surprising fact about American poverty

Every year, the U.S. Census comes out with its report on incomes and poverty. And every year the same finding repeatedly surprises me. As economist David Henderson says, the report “always shows that there is mobility between income categories, even in the short run, and that poverty is temporary for most people in America who experience it. Continue Reading...

Higher Education and Upward Mobility

Today at Public Discourse, I explore the dubious connection between educational attainment and upward income mobility, arguing instead that a focus on cultivating social capital would be far more effective than the conventional wisdom: “Stay out of trouble and stay in school.” Continue Reading...

Why social mobility matters—and income inequality does not

When it comes to household income, progressives tend to start with their intuitive understanding of fairness (i.e., some people have a lot more income than others), move to the solution (redistribution of income and wealth from those who have more to those who have less), and only then to develop a metric that justifies implementing their solution: income inequality. Continue Reading...