Economic Mobility: Research and Ideas on Strengthening Families, Communities, and the Economy [Conference]

Federal Reserve System | Featuring plenary speakers Raj Chetty, Robert D. Putnam, Robert J. Sampson, and Scott Winship (Ph.D. '09)

Harvard faculty members Raj Chetty (Bloomberg Professor of Economics), Robert D. Putnam (Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy) and Robert J. Sampson (Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences), and Inequality & Social Policy alumnus Scott Winship (Ph.D. '09) of the Manhattan Institute, were among the plenary speakers for the U.S. Federal Reserve System's ninth biennial Community Development Research Conference—Economic Mobility: Research and Ideas on Strengthening Families, Communities, and the Economy—held April 2-3, 2015, in Washington D.C.

In choosing this theme for the 2015 conference, the U.S. Federal Reserve System set out to "inform a robust public conversation about economic mobility," bridging the gap between research, policy, and practice on a key issue facing the country.  

Video coverage of the sold-out conference was streamed live from the conference website.

View the agenda and speakers ▶︎

These important questions

In her opening remarks, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen underscored the importance of research for understanding the sources of economic mobility and how these factors may have changed over time. She reiterated her hope that "more research would be dedicated to finding answers to these important questions," and that the conference itself would inspire further work on these issues.

Chairwoman Yellen identified specific aspects of economic mobility that "I think are particularly important and worthy of research," outlining a series of questions in each of the conference domains:

On families

"We know that families are the locus of both opportunities and barriers to economic mobility....What individual or family characteristics may predict who will achieve upward mobility? How much does someone's initial circumstances in life influence how far that person can get or how hard he or she needs to work to get there? Researchers and policymakers need a better understanding of how much mobility individuals may experience over the course of their lives and at what age people's outcomes may become more difficult to change.

"...Research may be able to provide evidence on which public policies are most helpful in building an economy in which people are poised to get ahead. Conversely, it would also be beneficial to understand whether any policies may hold people back or discourage upward mobility.

"...Looking at the very recent past, we should also be asking whether and how this may have changed coming out of the Great Recession. Later, my Federal Reserve Board colleague, Governor Brainard, will speak on a topic of significant interest to me and I expect to many others--how young adults are faring in the economy and what the short- and long-term implications may have been for entering the job market at a time of significantly constrained opportunities.

"This is another example of how exogenous factors--those over which individuals have little or no control--may play an important role in determining how easily someone is able to improve his or her circumstances."

On communities

...Economists do not fully understand how locational differences affect economic mobility or the complex relationship between economic mobility and geographic mobility. There are community characteristics--for instance, the composition and level of local employment, schools, transportation, physical infrastructure, and community facilities--that may affect the economic mobility of the residents of that community...

"Further research may help us better understand why some communities succeed or fail in generating jobs, developing successful small businesses, attracting infrastructure investment, and so on. How do some places advance economically and create circumstances in which residents, in turn, are more likely to thrive?"

 The economy

"Finally, there are important research questions to be answered about the relationship between economic mobility and the economy as a whole. It seems obvious that greater economic opportunity and mobility promotes a healthier economy. Entrepreneurship, innovation, and hard work--surely key contributors to individual mobility--are central to a strong economy as well.

"But research could help us better understand how much mobility at the individual level matters for overall growth in productivity and economic output. To what extent is income mobility influenced by domestic or global economic forces, and to what extent can we promote mobility through domestic policy choices?"

Read the full text of Chairwoman Yellen's opening remarks ▶︎