Improved Economic Mobility

Opportunity Insights 

Opportunity Insights is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization based at Harvard University and directed by Raj Chetty, John Friedman, and Nathaniel Hendren. Its mission is to identify barriers to economic opportunity and develop scalable solutions that will empower people throughout the United States to rise out of poverty and achieve better life outcomes.

Sub-focus: Capital building (human capital, cross-class social capital and/or financial capital)

• How social networks impact economic mobility

• Social Capital and Economic Mobility

• Pathways to Economic Mobility factsheet

• Boosting toward Mobility

• The role of emergency savings in family financial security

• Lesson Learned from Matched Savings Accounts 

• Health and Economic Mobility 

• What are the health consequences of upward mobility?

Sub-focus:  Increased economic mobility for Black boys and men 

• Racial Wealth Equity

• Black men face economic disadvantages even if they start out in wealthier households

• Race and Economic Opportunity

• The State of US Wealth Inequality

Sub-focus: Place-based interventions addressing neighborhood characteristics

• Why Housing Matters

• Charlotte Opportunity Initiative 

• American Dream is harder to find in some neighborhoods

• How segregation threatens social mobility 

• Creating Moves to Opportunity

• 4 ways to tackle segregated cities

• The Marriage Effect

For examples of evidence-based policy strategies, visit these resources:

• Brookings: 6 policies to improve social mobility
• University of Michigan Economic Mobility Research
• Advancing Economic Mobility Policy Options
• Opportunity Insights Policy Initiatives

Other Resources:

• St. Louis Equity Index
• Urban Institute: Debt in America 
• Social Capital Map
• Structural Racism in St. Louis
• Health Equity Works 
• Forward Through Ferguson 
• St. Louis Fed: Household Stability
• Health Affairs: Health, Income, and Poverty
• Urban institute: How Income and Wealth are linked to Health 
• Brookings: Black Progress Index
• National Equity Atlas