Using data from the German Socio Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 1984 to 2007, this paper analyses the amount, the development and the explanations of wage mobility, as well as volatility in West Germany, measured by ranks in the wage distribution. Individual wage mobility decreased between...

Using harmonized household survey data, we analyse long run social mobility in the US, the UK, and Germany and test recent theories of multigenerational persistence of socio-economic status. In this country comparison setting we find evidence against Gregory Clark's "universal law of social...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Tables -- Preface -- 1 Introduction -- 2 What Happened to Horatio Alger? -- 3 Who Believes in the American Dream? -- 4 The High Costs of Being Poor in the Land of the Dream -- 5 Well-Being, Aspirations, and Outcomes -- 6 Can We Save the Dream? --...

The Declaration of Independence states that all people are endowed with certain unalienable rights, and that among these is the pursuit of happiness. But is happiness available equally to everyone in America today? How about elsewhere in the world? Carol Graham draws on cutting edge research...