The paper offers a descriptive, yet

The paper offers a descriptive, yet structured, discussion of the underlying
drivers of opportunity that generate the relationship between inequality and intergenerational
mobility. The goal is to explain why America differs from other
countries, how intergenerational mobility will change in an era of higher inequality,
and how the process is different for the top 1 percent. To lay the foundation,
I begin by presenting the evidence that countries with more inequality at one
point in time also experience less earnings mobility across the generations, a
relationship that has been called “The Great Gatsby Curve.” I also outline how
to interpret the common statistic measuring intergenerational earnings mobility
and its relationship to the broader concept of equality of opportunity. My
overview of the causal factors determining intergenerational mobility is based
upon a framework drawn from some influential economic models often used
to examine the intergenerational transmission of inequality. This framework
focuses attention on the investments made in the human capital of children
influencing their adult earnings and socio-economic status.