Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/252147 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 9630
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Are the United States still a land of opportunity? We provide new insights on this question by invoking a novel measurement approach that allows us to target the joint distribution of income and wealth. We show that inequality of opportunity has increased by 77% over the time period 1983-2016. Increases are driven by two distinct forces: (i) a less opportunity-egalitarian distribution of income until 2000, and (ii) a less opportunity-egalitarian distribution of wealth after the financial crisis in 2008. In sum, our findings suggest that the US have consistently moved further away from a level playing field in recent decades.
Subjects: 
fairness
intergenerational mobility
time trends
measurement
JEL: 
D31
D63
J62
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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