An education on social mobility by degrees

In this new paper (pdf), Gregory Clark of A Farewell to Alms fame makes a gobsmacking claim:

A UNIVERSITY education costs a fortune. Student loan debt in America has been rising rapidly in an effort to keep up with the expense. According to the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finance 8.9% of households had student debt in 1989, averaging $8,700. In 2007, by contrast, the share had risen to 16%, holding an average of $21,500 in debt. To make matters worse new graduates face a slack job market which could depress their earnings for decades.

The causality between political attitudes and social mobility runs both ways. That’s the message of two new papers. First this paper (ungated pdf) finds that social mobility is heavily dependent upon political choices, not just upon genetics or family environment.  It shows that the intergenerational earnings elasticity is hugely correlated with the ratio between the proportions of rich and poor who are members of political parties.

The Milburn report has caused the usual suspects to complain that the abolition of grammar schools is a big reason for lower social mobility. The evidence for this is, however, almost entirely anecdotal. It has almost no basis in hard research.

This week's Free exchange column discusses new research on rates of inter-generational social mobility (summary here). We are inviting experts in the field to comment on the piece and related research. Miles Corak, an economist at the University of Ottawa, responded here.

Who knew? You can now get a college degree (bachelor's or master's) in "Social Justice," here are some examples:1. Social Justice & Human Rights Degree (M.A.) at Arizona State University. 

Why do so many people think grammar schools are a way of improving social mobility? It’s not because the social research says they are. I suspect instead that plain error is involved.

Peter Beinart, like all good heterodox liberals, thinks we should curb race-based affirmative action in college admissions in favor of something more focused on class. I’m open to this idea, though I’d like to see a specific proposal rather than a vague suggestion. But every time I hear this debate I have to wonder why we’re having it.