America’s Political Economy: How college attendance varies with parental income

Better off Americans go to College. Poor Americans don’t.It’s obvious. We all know it. But when plotted, the relationship is stark.

In fact the relationship is linear. 75 percent of kids with poor parents don’t go to College (any post-secondary College of any type). Of those in the top decile, 90 percent plus go to College and the colleges they go to are the wonderful ones.

Nothing fancy. Just a devastating blow to the complacent idea that we inhabit a meritocracy.

Data from Chetty Friedman and Hendren et al’s inequality project

By way of Piketty’s english-language blog at Le Monde.

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