The Consequences of Charter Schools

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In a sense, if we randomly apply it to the population, but what we're really doing is we're talking about it and this is something people don't like to admit. We're tapping into something else. And then maybe we could think about it in a way you just described and then describe to the parents. Look, if your kid does go to the charter school and you do put in the time of effort, your kid's going to do better than you do.

Economist and Nobel Laureate James Heckman of the University of Chicago talks about inequality and economic mobility with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Drawing on research on inequality in Denmark with Rasmus Landerso, Heckman argues that despite the efforts of the Danish welfare state to provide equal access to education, there is little difference in economic mobility between the United States and Denmark. The conversation includes a general discussion of economic mobility in the United States along with a critique of Chetty and others' work on the power of neighborhood to determine one's economic destiny.