4 ms·
The story is not so much about the US's (low) social mobility, but about how Americans perceive it. The effect of "Americans are much more optimistic about soci
by thomasahle 5y ago
The story is not so much about the US's (low) social mobility, but about how Americans perceive it. The effect of "Americans are much more optimistic about social mobility" seems to be the same if you look at other measures, like "Probability of remaining in the bottom quintile".
(Except Q2 -> Q1 mobility, which Americans seem more pessimistic about for some reason.)
- ryandrake 5y agoThere was a survey[1] a while ago where 19% of Americans said they were in the top 1%, and 20% more believed they would later become the 1%. That adds up to 39% of Americans who are either irrationally optimistic or who failed statistics. It's kind of like how everyone thinks they are an above-average driver and are a top performer at work. 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/opinion/the-triumph-of-hope-over-self-interest.html https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/opinion/the-triumph-of-ho...