I was very pleased to speak at the 2014 International Policy Conference on the theme “Inequality: Defining our Time?” held at Millersville University on November 6th and 7th, 2014. I spoke on the very kind invitation of Professor Ken Smith and the Department of Economics at Millersville University.
My talk was called “Inequality, Life Chances, and Public Policy: How to Slide Down the Great Gatsby Curve,” and you can watch it here if you have an interest.
These are the associated slides: Inequality Life Chances and Public Policy how to Slide Down the Great Gatsby Curve for Millersville University International Policy Conference
The source for this presentation is an article I published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives called “Income Inequality, Equality of Opportunity, and Intergenerational Mobility”
The discussant, who begins speaking at about 47 minutes into the talk, is Professor Antonio Callari of Franklin and Marshall College. He offered some interesting remarks about how the theme of the talk relates to developments in Lancaster PA, where the conference was held.
[ One silly grammatical error that I wish I could take back occurs when I say “the more statistically significant among you,” when my intention was “the more statistically savvy among you.” ]
Economics for public policy 
Interesting work and good and clear set of slides and charts to explain.
No mention of challenges for visible minorities and immigrants, either first or second generation, where there are some ongoing issues related to discrimination (education is not an issue as many visible minorities compare well – or better – than non-visible minorities.
Perhaps for a future presentation?
Thanks for this Andrew. The point is well taken. The intergenerational mobility of immigrants is an important issue, particularly for countries like the US and Canada. There is a good deal of research on this, some of which I have done with colleagues and summarized in this publication: http://irpp.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/research/family-policy/immigration-in-the-long-run/vol14no13.pdf . But I think you are right, it warrants mention in an overview presentation of the sort I gave at the conference. As it turns out this is a good news story, for the most part, in Canada.
Thanks Miles for providing the link to your useful paper. As you say, overall good news.
As I work through the NHS education and economic outcomes data (notwithstanding some of the issues with the NHS), the broad picture is largely unchanged from your more detailed analysis.
I find the variation between communities particularly interesting, given the challenges of isolating the various factors involved.
Happy to share some of the my results if of interest.
Andrew
By all means, I’d be curious to see your results. best, m.
Will do. Waiting for the last bunch of data from StatsCan and will be happy to send in a few weeks.