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New study says friendships across class could lift people out of poverty

On the "Sound of Ideas," we discuss a new study that looks at how cross-class friendships can lead to upward mobility. [Ivan Kruk/shutterstock]
On the "Sound of Ideas," we discuss a new study that looks at how cross-class friendships can lead to upward mobility. [Ivan Kruk/shutterstock]

In 2016, a team of economists started trying to quantify the concept of the "American Dream" - whether anyone in this country can achieve upward economic mobility. 

They found that in 1940, a child born into the average American household had a 92 percent chance of making more money than his or her parents. But over the coming decades, that percentage began to drop. By the 1980s, as economic inequality began to rise, a child born in 1980 - who would be 42 today, would only have a 50 percent chance of making more money than their parents. 

Earlier this month a new study was published by the group, Opportunity Insights, which is a research collaborative between the US Census Bureau and Harvard University. The study expands on their initial findings on the largest predictors of adult earnings and examines why some individuals are able to beat the odds and successfully climb the economic ladder and some aren't. 

The study, published in the science journal Nature, analyzed the Facebook friendships of 72 million Americans and found that people that have more relationships across class lines have a much better chance of upward mobility, and are much more likely to rise up out of poverty.

Today, we'll start the "Sound of Ideas" by talking to one of the lead researchers that worked on this study to help us understand more about this analysis. 

Later in the hour, we look at the art and history of drag here in Northeast Ohio. 

-Dr. Matthew O. Jackson, Ph.d., Professor of Economics, Stanford University  

-Dr. Lady J, Ph.D., Performer, Educator, Activist & Emcee

-Erica Martinez, Drag Queen

Rachel is the supervising producer for Ideastream Public Media’s morning public affairs show, the “Sound of Ideas.”