The Role of Victorian Values in Motivating People

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There was a sense in which we recognized that a certain set of values were very beneficial for the society at all. Respecting laws, respecting each other, a sense of civility, all of those were basically part of that culture. That wasn't always true. It became open season on Victorianism in the early part of the 20th century. And so the question then becomes, how do you achieve that moral force? How do you achieve the recognition of those values?

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.