More Inequality ≠ More Mobility

Some conservatives argue that America's extreme income inequality is a praiseworthy thing because it goes hand in hand with greater economic mobility. In a new working paper, Lane Kenworthy and Co. find no such relationship:

Markus Gangl (University of Wisconsin), Joakim Palme (Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm), and I have a paper that averages income over 18 years in Germany, Sweden, and the United States. Eighteen years isn’t a full work life, but it’s the best we can do with existing panel data sets. .... As the number of years over which income is averaged increases, the amount of measured inequality decreases. But it decreases at the same rate in each of the three countries. America’s position does not improve.