This paper extends an intergenerational context to the prospect of upward mobility hypothesis, showing that the poor majority in democracies may not support massive redistribution for the sake of their children's educational attainment and upward mobility. We develop an overlapping generations model in which human capital formation depends on individual effort and educational resources. Parents vote on redistributive policies under majority rule by considering the disincentive effects of high tax rates on children's study efforts. We characterize the stationary Markov perfect equilibrium in which children respond negatively to the extent of redistribution, and parental altruism discourages poor voters from expropriating the rich. Under private education, a tax rate is only credible above a certain threshold, and children's efforts and their parental inputs are complements in the steady state. Under public education, a credible policy embodies a moderate income tax combined with a small educational fund. Under both school systems, the optimal credible tax increases with wage inequality and decreases as parental altruism becomes stronger.

Mareike Schad examines how redistributive policy measures influence intergenerational income mobility, taking into account various facets of the parent-child connection. In the first part, the author investigates the impact of education and education policy on income mobility both theoretically and empirically. The second part addresses individual beliefs regarding the determinants of personal economic success and their effect on income mobility within a society.

We posit that the relationship between income inequality and economic growth is mediated by the level of equality of opportunity, which we identify with intergenerational mobility. In economies characterized by intergenerational rigidities, an increase in income inequality has persistent effects—for example by hindering human capital accumulation— thereby retarding future growth disproportionately. We use several recently developed internationally comparable measures of intergenerational mobility to confirm that the negative impact of income inequality on growth is higher the lower is intergenerational mobility. Our results suggest that omitting intergenerational mobility leads to misspecification, shedding light on why the empirical literature on income inequality and growth has been so inconclusive.

Fair Progress? Economic Mobility across Generations around the World focuses on an issue that has gotten much attention in the developed world, but will present new data and analysis covering most of the world including developing economies. The analysis considers whether those born in poverty or in prosperity are destined to remain in the same economic circumstances into which they were born, and looks back over a half a century at whether children's lives are better or worse than their parents' in different parts of the world. It suggests local, national, and global actions and policies that can help break the cycle of poverty, paving the way for the next generation to realize their potential and improve their lives.

Even minute increases in a country's growth rate can result in dramatic changes in living standards over just one generation. The benefits of growth, however, may not be shared equally. Some may gain less than others, and a fraction of the population may actually be disadvantaged. Recent economic research has found both positive and negative relationships between growth and inequality across nations. The questions raised by these results include: What is the impact on inequality of policies designed to foster growth? Does inequality by itself facilitate or detract from economic growth, and does it amplify or diminish policy effectiveness? This book provides a forum for economists to examine the theoretical, empirical, and policy issues involved in the relationship between growth and inequality. The aim is to develop a framework for determining the role of public policy in enhancing both growth and equality. The diverse range of topics, examined in both developed and developing countries, includes natural resources, taxation, fertility, redistribution, technological change, transition, labor markets, and education. A theme common to all the essays is the importance of education in reducing inequality and increasing growth.

Eight papers, both theoretical and applied, on the concept of equality of opportunity which says that a society should guarantee its members equal access to advantage regardless of their circumstances, while holding them responsible for turning that access into actual advantage by the application of effort.