Last October, I drew on the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances – a rich source of data for researchers in this field – to explore some factors that may influence economic mobility, such as access to quality education and ownership of a family business, and I discussed how those factors may have changed over time.
3 But I noted the difficulty of reaching definitive conclusions and, like Chairman Bernanke, expressed my hope that more research would be dedicated to finding answers to these important questions. I hope that the work that has been gathered and will be presented and discussed at this conference – as well as the research it may inspire – will further this worthy goal.