Land of opportunity?

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Here is a particularly telling graph from policies that work:



The data come from the OECD and The World Bank.

What you see on the horizontal axis is income inequality, that is, the inverse of the Gini coefficient. A lower score means more unequal income distribution.

The vertical axis is 'equality of opportunity,' measured as income mobility, the extent to which your income differs from the income of your father. The higher the score, the less correlation there is, which suggest greater equality of opportunity. 

What you see is that the US scores worst on both, while the Nordic counties do much better. The US is no longer the land of opportunity.

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Finland has overtaken Norway to become the happiest nation on earth, according to a UN report. The 2018 World Happiness Report also charts the steady decline of the US as the world’s largest economy grapples with a crisis of obesity, substance abuse and depression. The study reveals the US has slipped to 18th place, five places down on 2016. The top four places are taken by Nordic nations, with Finland followed by Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

“In the Nordic countries in general, we pay some of the highest taxes in the world, but there is wide public support for that because people see them as investments in quality of life for all. Free healthcare and university education goes a long way when it comes to happiness. 

Finland is the happiest country in the world, says UN report | World news | The Guardian