Publications on Income & Wealth Distribution

This report provides a policy-oriented conceptual framework that has the potential to explain saving and asset accumulation across the entire population and to account for the low levels of saving and asset accumulation in the low-income population. The report also reviews empirical evidence that supports or challenges this framework.

There is ample evidence that health and wealth are related, and it is possible that health helps drive—or hinder— economic mobility. This review considers the literature linking parents’ health to children’s economic mobility, as well as the links between health (and health insurance costs) and labor market outcomes. It also examines literature on other pathways through which health may influence mobility, including potential links between poor childhood health and lowered educational achievement. (Review 6 of 11.)

Education policy is important to the discussion of mobility because it serves both as an end and a means to an end in eliminating inequalities. In addition to fostering mobility among those directly benefited by it, the children of beneficiaries may indirectly benefit as well. Thus, properly targeted education programs may enhance outcomes in both present and future generations. This review summarizes the complex and well-developed literature on the interplay between education and inter- and intragenerational economic mobility. (Review 2 of 11.)

Children's mobility outcomes are a function of not only their parents' characteristics and resources, but also of the way parents transmit those characteristics and resources across generations. This review assesses the literature on the effects of family structure, resources, and childrearing styles on children's economic outcomes. Particular attention is paid to the challenge of disentangling the impacts of these determinants, which are often highly correlated: high socio-economic status individuals are better able to address their children’s material needs, but are also more likely to form stable, two-parent families and may even tend to employ more effective parenting strategies. (Review 3 of 11.)

One of the ways that economic status could be transmitted from one generation to the next is if parents pass on to their children the genetic endowments that help them to attain their economic position. A range of traits—from physical appearance to cognitive skill—are potential targets for this type of genetic transmission. However, although genes may predispose individuals to certain behaviors, environmental factors can amplify or counteract those influences. This review summarizes the literature on the genetic components of socio-economic status. (Review 4 of 11.)