Information on social mobility in African countries was once relatively scarce, but a new data set paints a continent-wide picture (Nicolas Syrichas and Rasmane Ouedraogo)

Ever since the Transatlantic slave trade ramped up in the 17th century, the African continent has had a tough time economically and socially. But around the mid-1990s, the momentum shifted. Over the past two decades, the size of Africa’s economy, as a whole, increased by 50 percent in contrast to a world average of 23 …

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Targeting programs during childhood is the best way to increase upward economic mobility (Raji Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren)

A defining feature of the American Dream is upward mobility—the ability of all children to have a chance at economic success, no matter their background. Unfortunately, children’s chances of earning more than their parents have declined in recent decades. Whereas 90 percent of children born in 1940 grew up to earn more than their parents, only half …

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Bob Simison profiles Harvard’s Lawrence F. Katz, whose research changed economists’ understanding of economic disparity

Like the rest of us, Harvard labor economist Lawrence F. Katz has been thinking about how artificial intelligence (AI) will change the future—especially what it will mean for inequality. Since the 1980s, he has made groundbreaking contributions to economists’ understanding of the issue and what can be done about it. Under one AI scenario, Katz …

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Anne Case: The Longevity Economist (Gary A. Seidman)

For decade after decade in the United States, children typically stayed healthier and lived longer than the generation that came before them. The country, it seemed to Anne Case, had been doing something right. By the late 1960s, advances in vaccines and antibiotics had helped extend the average American lifespan to nearly 70, about 50 percent longer than …

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A British Trump tribute act could snatch power in the UK: Without a constitution for protection, British politics is vulnerable to its own version of extremism (Alan Rusbridger)

Could it happen here? Could a Donald Trump tribute act sweep into power in the UK, trash the existing order and overwhelm the system with a series of outlandish and extreme measures before anyone had a chance to catch their breath? There are two theories of British exceptionalism which we tell to reassure ourselves that …

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New Alliance for Civics in the Academy Working to Promote University Civics Education Nationwide (

Alliance for Civics in the Academy) Scholars at the Hoover Institution have created a new national alliance of civics educators tasked with reinvigorating the teaching of civics at American universities to better equip graduates to participate in modern democracy. Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) — Scholars at the Hoover Institution have created a new national alliance …

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