Author: Matt Bruenig

Yesterday I posted about the effect of tax and transfer programs on poverty reduction across 34 OECD countries. Across the OECD, transfer programs play a massive role in reducing poverty, a bigger role than perhaps any other factor. I put together this animation to hopefully illustrate even more clearly the amount of poverty being reduced… Continue reading Animation of transfers reducing poverty across 34 countries

Relative to other countries, poverty in the United States is quite high. High poverty levels are a problem both for baseline fairness reasons, but also for a host of welfare-related reasons. Poor people are subjected to higher levels of stress, risk, economic insecurity, and food insecurity. Poor people generally have worse health, decreased access to… Continue reading Countries eliminate poverty through tax and transfer programs

Earlier I shared the Pew Economic Mobility Project’s latest findings on social mobility. The picture isn’t pretty. Kids born into the richest 20% are 10x more likely to wind up in the richest 20% as adults than kids born into the poorest 20%. Not surprisingly, the wealth mobility picture is just as bad: In many… Continue reading US wealth mobility in one chart

I came across this study a while ago, but I have yet to write about it. Among other things, the study details what percentage of Canadian sons have worked in the same firm as their fathers, broken down by income percentile. On average, 40% of sons work in the same firm as their fathers at… Continue reading The advantages of having rich parents