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> "It's easier to achieve the American Dream in China, South Africa, and Brazil than it is in the US." South Africa and Brazil are two of the most unequal count
by aaaxyz 6y ago
> "It's easier to achieve the American Dream in China, South Africa, and Brazil than it is in the US." South Africa and Brazil are two of the most unequal countries in the world as measured by the Gini Coefficient. I think the author is reading the data backwards.
Gini Coefficient and social mobility aren't perfectly correlated. I.e. imagine a society where people's accumulated lifetime wealth is highly unequal but where a 100% inheritance tax effectively resets familial wealth every generation.
- dalbasal 6y agoThey are even opposed, in some sense. The more inequality, the more potential for mobility there is.. at least if you are measuring mobility in absolute terms. Since much of China's wealthy (idk about Brazil and SA) are newly wealthy, any billionaires are likely to be 1st generation wealthy. Before the 80s, being wealthy was basically banned.