I'm unconvinced that this measurement of income mobility is a good thing, and I'm confounded that it gets talked about and referenced so often. The frequency a

I'm unconvinced that this measurement of income mobility is a good thing, and I'm confounded that it gets talked about and referenced so often. The frequency at which I'm hearing about this makes me suspicious that it's in service of some political ideololgy. I understand that this measurement of mobility purports to measure something like how meritocratic a society is. But parents teach their children their own habits (consciously and unconsciously), so if your income quintile has any relationship to your behavior, then it's no surprise that income mobility is not perfect. But what's the "right" amount of mobility? Comparisons between countries are a little suspect, because, for instance, the top quintile in income in the US is drastically different than the top quintile in Canada. The fact is that 20% of your population will always be in every quintile no matter what you do. Every person you send from the bottom quintile to the top will be balanced out by a person falling by the same amount. We should be focusing on making everyone's life better, not shuffling people around.