Does ‘Birth Lottery’ Trump the American Dream?

When a child wins the “birth lottery” by being born into a higher-income family, the economic payoff is very large, say researchers.

"The American dream is about ensuring that all children, no matter how poor their parents may be, have an opportunity to be mobile by climbing the economic ladder and moving into a higher income group," says David Grusky. mdmilliman/iStock

When a child wins the “birth lottery” by being born into a higher-income family, the economic payoff is very large, say researchers.

“This result is not consistent with the American dream in which children from low-income families are supposed to have ample opportunities for economic mobility,” says David Grusky, the director of the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality.

In a new study of economic mobility, based on tax data, the gap between this ideal and the reality of the US economy is shown to be very large, Grusky says.