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"Fascinating: income mobility in one generation (PARENT -> CHILD) cannot be extrapolated to multiple generations (PARENT -> CHILD -> CHILD ...), because socioec
by rsync 10y ago
"Fascinating: income mobility in one generation (PARENT -> CHILD) cannot be extrapolated to multiple generations (PARENT -> CHILD -> CHILD ...), because socioeconomic status persists across generations even if income fluctuates from one generation to the next."
Right - which means that no matter how much you earn you can't ever "phase transition" unless you migrate from earnings to holdings.
No matter how much the child/grandchild/GGchild makes, if they don't parlay that into assets, eventually the bloodline reverts to the mean.
That's not to say that the holders of assets have a cake walk - any cursory study of history shows that these fortunes also dwindle and disappear[1] - but you're getting nowhere at all if you rely on earnings from labor.
[1] They're not renting that big house out to Downton Abby because they like period TV pieces...
- Houshalter 10y agoThe parent comment's theory is not that they hold onto assets, but that they hold onto social ties. A person born into the upper class will have better connections, get a better education, and act dress and speak like a member of his class, and marry into other upper class families.