The Importance of Education in Denmark

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The idea would be that, rather than having a world where the rich get all the education and the poor because they don't have the resources are stuck with an inferior level, everybody gets the same. But you find that they do not. What is happening in Denmark that's offsetting or what's failing with their education system? I think it's just a fact that family life plays a fundamental role in shaping how children either succeed or fail. So I think that's something that we currently deny in discussions in the US. It's so politically incorrect now.

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.