The Edenism of Happiness

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Economists focus on income because it is easily measured and collected by the government. What we really care about are these other things like agency, dignity and responsibility. We can measure autonomy in many ways in terms of life cycle choices. The value in life is responding to the challenge. It's not the final goal,. It's getting to the goal. It's striving.

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.