Opportunity in America

5563 cover front.qxp 8/6/2006 1:05 PM Page C1 The Future of Children PRINCETON - BROOKINGS Opportunity in America VOLUME 16 NUMBER 2 FALL 2006 3 Introducing the Issue 19 Intergenerational Social Mobility: The United States in Comparative Perspective 37 Intergenerational Mobility for Women and Minorities in the United States 55 Making It in America: Social Mobility in the Immigrant Population 73 Early Childhood Development and Social Mobility 99 U.S. Elementary and Secondary Schools: Equalizing Opportunity or Replicating the Status Quo? 125 The Role of Higher Education in Social Mobility 151 Children’s Health and Social Mobility 175 “Culture” and the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty: The Prevention Paradox A PUBLICATION OF THE WOODROW WILSON SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY AND THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION 5563 inside covers.qxp 8/6/2006 4:48 PM Page C2 The Future of Children seeks to translate high-level research into information that is useful to policymakers, practitioners, and the media. The Future of Children is a publication of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and Interna- tional Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution. Senior Editorial Staff Journal Staff Sara McLanahan Elisabeth Hirschhorn Donahue Editor-in-Chief Associate Editor Princeton University Princeton University Director, Center for Research on Brenda Szittya Child Wellbeing, and Professor of Sociology Managing Editor and Public Affairs Brookings Institution Ron Haskins Julie Clover Senior Editor Anne Hardenbergh Brookings Institution Outreach Directors Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Center on Brookings Institution Children and Families Lisa Markman Christina Paxson Outreach Director Senior Editor Princeton University Princeton University Director, Center for Health and Wellbeing, and Professor of Economics and Public Affairs Cecilia Rouse Senior Editor Princeton University Director, Education Research Section, and Professor of Economics and Public Affairs Isabel Sawhill Senior Editor Brookings Institution Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Center on Children and Families The Future of Children would like to thank the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for their generous support. ISSN: 1054-8289 ISBN-13: 978-0-8157-5563-0 ISBN-10: 0-8157-5563-5 5563 inside covers.qxp 8/6/2006 4:48 PM Page C3 Board of Advisors Jeanne Brooks-Gunn Charles N. Kahn III Columbia University Federation of American Hospitals Peter Budetti Marguerite Sallee Kondracke University of Oklahoma America’s Promise – The Alliance for Youth Judith Feder Rebecca Maynard Georgetown University University of Pennsylvania William Galston Lynn Thoman Brookings Institution Corporate Perspectives University of Maryland Heather B. Weiss Jean B. Grossman Harvard University Public/Private Ventures Amy Wilkins Princeton University Education Reform Now Kay S. Hymowitz Manhattan Institute for Policy Research The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University or the Brookings Institution. The Future of Children is copyrighted by Princeton University and the Brookings Institution, all rights reserved. Authorization to photocopy articles for personal use is authorized by The Future of Children. Reprinting is also allowed, so long as the journal article is properly given this attribution: “From The Future of Children, a publication of The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.” It is the current policy of the journal not to charge for reprinting, but this policy is subject to change. To purchase a subscription, access free electronic copies, or sign up for our e-newsletter, go to our website, www.futureofchildren.org. If you would like additional information about the journal, please send questions to [email protected]. 00 5563 TOC.qxp 8/6/2006 4:52 PM Page 1 The Future of Children PRINCETON - BROOKINGS VOLUME 16 NUMBER 2 FALL 2006 Opportunity in America 3 Introducing the Issue by Isabel Sawhill and Sara McLanahan 19 Intergenerational Social Mobility: The United States in Comparative Perspective by Emily Beller and Michael Hout 37 Intergenerational Mobility for Women and Minorities in the United States by Melissa S. Kearney 55 Making It in America: Social Mobility in the Immigrant Population by George J. Borjas 73 Early Childhood Development and Social Mobility by W. Steven Barnett and Clive R. Belfield 99 U.S. Elementary and Secondary Schools: Equalizing Opportunity or Replicating the Status Quo? by Cecilia Elena Rouse and Lisa Barrow 125 The Role of Higher Education in Social Mobility by Robert Haveman and Timothy Smeeding 151 Children’s Health and Social Mobility by Anne Case and Christina Paxson 175 “Culture” and the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty: The Prevention Paradox by Jens Ludwig and Susan Mayer www.futureofchildren.org 00 5563 TOC.qxp 8/6/2006 4:52 PM Page 2 01 5563 intro.qxp 8/6/2006 4:52 PM Page 3 Introducing the Issue Isabel Sawhill and Sara McLanahan he United States has long been Western democracies to redistribute income, viewed as a place where with leading to large income disparities between hard work most people can suc- families at the top and those at the bottom of ceed, whatever their family the economic ladder.1 One reason such in- background. Immigrants flock equality may be less troubling to Americans Tto the United States because of the nation’s than to many Europeans is the conviction image as “the land of opportunity.” An immi- that opportunity is available for all to achieve grant candle maker’s son, Benjamin Franklin, economic success. grew up to become one of the Founding Fa- thers. An immigrant weaver’s child, Andrew But does this set of beliefs comport with real- Carnegie, began by working at a cotton mill ity? Is the United States such a classless soci- and went on to build a vast empire of wealth. ety after all? And to the extent that the nation And compared with some of the older has fallen short of its ideals, what can be democracies of Western Europe, the United done? This volume attempts to answer these States is often presumed to be a less class- questions, drawing on some of the best re- based society. It is understood, of course, that search and data available. In the articles that opportunity has not been available to all. follow, the authors examine opportunity in African Americans, in particular, have long the United States today, how opportunity has struggled to escape the legacy of slavery. And changed over time, and how it varies by race, women, denied political and economic op- gender, and national origin. They also explore portunities until relatively recently, are still how education, health, and culture affect so- trying to catch up to men. But the dominant cial mobility for children born in different ideology in America has been a deep-seated circumstances and what government might belief in equality of opportunity. do in each of these domains to make opportunity in the United States more equal. Americans’ commitment to the ability of indi- viduals to fashion their own success has made Before going any further, we should say a few them less willing than the citizens of other words about what we mean by opportunity, www.futureofchildren.org Isabel Sawhill is senior fellow and co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution and is a senior editor of The Future of Children. Sara McLanahan is director of the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing at Princeton University and editor-in-chief of The Future of Children. The authors thank Anne Hardenbergh for managing the entire project with extraordinary efficiency and Brenda Szittya for superb editing. They also thank Jeff Tebbs for outstanding research assistance on this article. VOL. 16 / NO. 2 / FALL 2006 3 01 5563 intro.qxp 8/6/2006 4:52 PM Page 4 Isabel Sawhill and Sara McLanahan how it is measured, and how it relates to eco- First, income and wealth are more unequally nomic growth and inequality. A society with distributed in the United States than at any economic opportunity is one in which all chil- time in the past half century. In 2003, the av- dren have a roughly equal chance of success erage CEO earned 185 times as much as the regardless of the economic status of the fam- average worker, up from 24 times in 1965.2 ily into which they were born. Stated differ- In 1979, the after-tax income of the top fifth ently, in such a society, the association be- of the population was 6.2 times higher than tween one’s parents’ income and one’s own that of the bottom fifth; in 2003, the top fifth income should be small. This does not mean had 9.8 times as much as the bottom fifth.3 it should be zero. Some association between According to Congressional Budget Office data, from 1979 to 2003 the average after-tax income of the top 1 percent of the population With the rewards for increased 129 percent, while that of the poor- est fifth of Americans rose just 4 percent.4 economic success becoming Wealth is even more unevenly distributed bigger, as they have in recent than income.5 With the rewards for economic success becoming bigger, as they have in re- decades, ensuring that cent decades, ensuring that competition is competition is fair and fair and open becomes even more important. open becomes even more Second, one reason why the United States important. has been considered the land of opportunity is that as a young nation with an open frontier and an unusually entrepreneurial spirit, it has parent and offspring status is to be expected, been blessed with relatively strong economic as we discuss below—but a large connection growth through much of its history.

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