Inheritance of Asset Inequality

Are children of the poor likely to remain poor and children of the rich likely to remain rich? Evidence on intergenerational transmission of inequality is mixed. According to some observers, the inheritance of inequality, in both capitalist and socialist societies, is one of the strongest research findings in social science. ¹ From this perspective, the best predictor of socioeconomic status is the socioeconomic status of one’s parents. Although there are many individual exceptions, social class tends to be passed from generation to generation except in extraordinary circumstances, such as revolutions, major migrations, or large-scale institutional interventions. ² John Brittain observes:

It is well known that the degree of inequality of income and other measures of economic success achieved by individuals has persisted over time at a high and rather stable level. Through New Deal, Fair Deal, New Society, Great Society, and the War against Poverty, the relative gap between rich and poor in America has remained substantially impervious to egalitarian public policy. ³