Meritocracy and Economic Inequality / Kenneth Arrow, Steven N. Durlauf, Samuel Bowles.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Arrow, Kenneth, editor.

Bowles, Samuel, editor.

Durlauf, Steven N., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social mobility.

Elite (Social sciences).

Equality.

Income distribution.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 348 p. :) ill. ;

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Most Americans strongly favor equality of opportunity if not outcome, but many are weary of poverty's seeming immunity to public policy. This helps to explain the recent attention paid to cultural and genetic explanations of persistent poverty, including claims that economic inequality is a function of intellectual ability, as well as more subtle depictions of the United States as a meritocracy where barriers to achievement are personal--either voluntary or inherited--rather than systemic. This volume of original essays by luminaries in the economic, social, and biological sciences, however, confirms mounting evidence that the connection between intelligence and inequality is surprisingly weak and demonstrates that targeted educational and economic reforms can reduce the income gap and improve the country's aggregate productivity and economic well-being. It also offers a novel agenda of equal access to valuable associations. Amartya Sen, John Roemer, Robert M. Hauser, Glenn Loury, Orley Ashenfelter, and others sift and analyze the latest arguments and quantitative findings on equality in order to explain how merit is and should be defined, how economic rewards are distributed, and how patterns of economic success persist across generations. Moving well beyond exploration, they draw specific conclusions that are bold yet empirically grounded, finding that schooling improves occupational success in ways unrelated to cognitive ability, that IQ is not a strong independent predictor of economic success, and that people's associations--their neighborhoods, working groups, and other social ties--significantly explain many of the poverty traps we observe. The optimistic message of this beautifully edited book is that important violations of equality of opportunity do exist but can be attenuated by policies that will serve the general economy. Policy makers will read with interest concrete suggestions for crafting economically beneficial anti-discrimination measures, enhancing educational and associational opportunity, and centering economic reforms in community-based institutions. Here is an example of some of our most brilliant social thinkers using the most advanced techniques that their disciplines have to offer to tackle an issue of great social importance.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Contributors

Introduction / Arrow, Kenneth / Bowles, Samuel / Durlauf, Steven

PART ONE: MERIT, REWARD, AND OPPORTUNITY

One. Merit and Justice / Sen, Amartya

Two. Equality of Opportunity / Roemer, John E.

PART TWO: THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF "INTELLIGENCE"

Three. IQ Trends over Time: Intelligence, Race, and Meritocracy / Flynn, James R.

Four. Genes, Culture, and Inequality / Feldman, Marcus W. / Otto, Sarah P. / Christiansen, Freddy B.

PART THREE: SCHOOLING AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

Five. Schooling, Intelligence, and Income in America / Ashenfelter, Orley / Rouse, Cecilia

Six. Does Schooling Raise Earnings by Making People Smarter? / Bowles, Samuel / Gintis, Herbert

Seven. A Reanalysis of The Bell Curve: Intelligence, Family Background, and Schooling / Korenman, Sanders / Winship, Christopher

Eight. Occupational Status, Education, and Social Mobility in the Meritocracy / Hauser, Robert M. / Warren, John Robert / Huang, Min-Hsiung / Carter, Wendy Y.

Nine. Understanding the Role of Cognitive Ability in Accounting for the Recent Rise in the Economic Return to Education / Cowley, John / Heckman, James / Lochner, Lance / Vytlacil, Edward

PART FOUR: POLICY OPTIONS

Ten. Inequality and Race: Models and Policy / Lundberg, Shelly J. / Startz, Richard

Eleven. Conceptual Problems in the Enforcement of Anti-Discrimination Laws / Loury, Glenn

Twelve. Meritocracy, Redistribution, and the Size of the Pie / Bénabou, Roland

Index

Notes:

A collection of 12 original papers contributed by scholars, with an introduction by the editors.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

9780691190334

069119033X

OCLC:

1132220755