THURSDAY THINK-TANK ROUND UP: FRIDAY EDITION. Lateness happens. Here we go.
- Is The American Dream Alive and Well? Brooking's Isabell Sawhill and Pew's John Morton examine economic mobility -- both relative and absolute -- in America. So far as relative mobility goes, the US, despite a striking faith in our own meritocracy, is significantly less mobile than other countries. Using the relationship between parent's income and children's earning as a measure, Sawhill and Morton find that Germany is 150 percent more mobile than than the US, Canada is 250 percent more mobile, and Denmark is 300 percent more mobile. And absolute mobility paints, if anything, a worse picture: The youngest generation, now 30, makes about 12 percent less than their fathers did at the same age.
- China's Economic Fluctuations: In contrast to the prevailing view on China, the Carnegie Endowment's Albert Keigel argues that China's growth over the past quarter-century has been driven by domestic demand, not exports. Given this, "the United States should concentrate on improving domestic components of its own international competitiveness rather than focusing on alleged Chinese violations of international commercial norms."
- The Myth of the Rational Voter: Over at Cato, Bryan Caplan excerpts from his new book to argue that "voters are worse than ignorant; they are, in a word, irrational -- and they vote accordingly. Despite their lack of knowledge, voters are not humble agnostics; instead, they confidently embrace a long list of misconceptions."
- Global Warming and the Future of Coal: I remain somewhat skeptical of coal's viability as a clean energy of any sort, but given the size of our reserves, and its ubiquity in China, it's tough to believe that the little carbon bricks won't be with us for some time to come. Over at The Center for American Progress, Ken Berlin and Robert Sussman evaluate the potentials and pitfalls of various coal strategies.
- Census Survey Saved! This isn't so much a report as a victory, but CEPR has been waging an enthusiastic crusade to keep the Bush administration from eliminating the Census Survey of Income and Program Participation, which collects data on participation in and effectiveness of safety net programs. This week, the Bush administration reversed their decision and decided to retain the measure. Congrats, guys.
--Ezra Klein
