We analyze the relation between the increase in inequality and the observed trends in intergenerational mobility in the U.S. in the last three decades. As an empirical contribution, we document a significant increase in the intergenerational elasticity of earnings, both at the family level and...

Consider the following facts. In 1950 the richest ten-percent of countries attained an average of 8.1 years of schooling whereas the poorest ten-percent of countries attained 1.3 years, a 6-fold difference. By 2005, the difference in schooling declined to 2-fold. The fact is that schooling has...