RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Modeling Equal Opportunity
JF RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
FD Russell Sage Foundation
SP 60
OP 97
DO 10.7758/RSF.2016.2.2.03
VO 2
IS 2
A1 Isabel V. Sawhill
A1 Richard V. Reeves
YR 2016
UL http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/2/2/60.abstract
AB We examine the themes of equal opportunity, intergenerational mobility, and inequality. We address the normative and definitional questions of selecting measures of mobility and summarize the current state of intergenerational mobility in the United States and abroad. We introduce a new microsimulation model, the Social Genome Model (SGM), which provides a framework for measuring success in each stage of the life cycle. We show how the SGM can be used not only to understand the pathways to the middle class, but also to simulate the impact of policy interventions on rates of mobility.