Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America

Since our nation's founding, the promise of economic opportunity has been a central component of the American Dream. And while the American Dream remains a unifying tenet for an increasingly diverse society, it may be showing signs of wear. Growing income inequality and slower economic growth suggest that now is an important moment to review the facts about opportunity and mobility in America and to attempt to answer the basic question: Is the American Dream alive and well?

This volume, authored by a team of scholars at the Brookings Institution, is one in a series of major research products that aims to further enlighten the public dialogue on economic opportunity.  While it offers reassuring findings in some areas, in many others there is room for concern. By arming the public and policy makers with facts about the status of opportunity in America today, this volume seeks to stimulate and frame the debate about which policies are likely to be most effective in ensuring that the American Dream endures for the next century.

To view the full report, click on the link to the right. 

To view a particular chapter, follow the links below.

(FEBRUARY 2008)

• Foreword
• Overview
• The Economic Mobility of Families Across Generations
• Trends in Intergenerational Mobility
• International Comparisons of Economic Mobility
• Wealth and Economic Mobility
• Economic Mobility of Men and Women
• Economic Mobility of Black and White Families
• Immigration: Wages, Education and Mobility
• Education and Economic Mobility
• Appendices