About the Book | What Haskins and Sawhill Are Saying | Ideas in the News | Recent Reviews | More Information | Events | About the Authors
About the Book
Americans believe economic opportunity is as fundamental a right as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. More concerned about a level playing field for all, they worry less about the growing income and wealth disparity in our country. Creating an Opportunity Society examines economic opportunity in the United States and explores how to create more of it, particularly for those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.
Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill propose a concrete agenda for increasing opportunity that is cost effective, consistent with American values, and focuses on improving the lives of the young and the disadvantaged.
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What Haskins and Sawhill are Saying
Featured Article
Five Myths About Our Land of Opportunity
Isabel Sawhill & Ron Haskins, November 1, 2009
Americans have always believed that their country is unique in providing the opportunity to get ahead. Just combine hard work with a bit of talent and you'll climb the ladder—or so we've told ourselves for generations. But rising unemployment and financial turmoil are puncturing that self-image. The reality of this "land of opportunity" is considerably more complex than the myths would suggest:
1. Americans enjoy more economic opportunity than people in other countries.
Actually, some other advanced economies offer more opportunity than ours does. For example, recent research shows that in the Nordic countries and in the United Kingdom, children born into a lower-income family have a greater chance than those in the United States of forming a substantially higher-income family by the time they're adults.
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Ideas in the News
- Is the American Dream a Myth?, National Journal, October 17, 2009
But as Brookings Institution scholars Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill demonstrate in a compelling new book, America's record doesn't entirely justify this optimism. Haskins, a former Republican congressional aide, and Sawhill, a former Clinton administration budget official, are two of America's sharpest social-policy analysts. Their book, Creating an Opportunity Society, collects decades of pragmatic insights into the challenge of re-creating an economy that works for all.
- Poorer, but At Least Not Sicker, The Economist, September 17, 2009
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said this week that the recession was probably over. But unemployment could stay high even as output recovers, reckons Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank. She thinks the poverty rate will peak above 14% and stay as high as 13% for a decade or so. Joblessness can scar those who experience it, she worries. People’s skills deteriorate and they may eventually become discouraged from seeking work.
- The Evolution of Divorce, National Affairs, Fall 2009
The emergence of the divorce and marriage divide in America exacerbates a host of other social problems. The breakdown of marriage in working-class and poor communities has played a major role in fueling poverty and inequality, for instance. Isabel Sawhill at the Brookings Institution has concluded that virtually all of the increase in child poverty in the United States since the 1970s can be attributed to family breakdown.
- The Bloody Crossroads, The New York Times, September 7, 2009
Two of my favorite essays in the first issue go right at this problem. Ron Haskins delivers a careful reading of the data on inequality and social mobility and cuts through a lot of the sloppy reporting on this issue. He points out that the surest way to achieve mobility is still the same: get married, get a degree, hold on to a job. ‘Poverty in America is a function of culture and behavior at least as much as of entrenched injustice,’ he writes. But how does government alter culture?
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Recent Reviews
- "This book presents a bold and thoughtful vision of how to change American economic and social policy to promote a more productive and less unequal society. It synthesizes the best research on political economy and the life cycle of skill formation in crafting its recommendations. While some readers will disagree with the authors about the details of some of their proposals, all readers will agree that the book is breathtaking in its scope and deeply thought-provoking. It is a major contribution to the policy debate."
James J. Heckman, Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, Nobel Laureate, Economics
- "Haskins and Sawhill have developed a set of innovative and forward thinking ideas for navigating toward the next generation of social policy. As localities across the nation tackle poverty and implement data-driven solutions, there could not be a more competent duo offering pragmatic, interesting and creative ideas to advance our shared goal of creating opportunity for all."
Linda I. Gibbs, New York City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services
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More Information
In their book, the authors recommend a three-pronged approach to create more opportunity in America:
- Increase education for children and youth at the preschool, K--12, and postsecondary levels
- Encourage and support work among adults
- Reduce the number of out-of-wedlock births while increasing the share of children reared by their married parents
Drawing on a wealth of data and research on recent trends in poverty, inequality, and economic mobility, Haskins and Sawhill argue that it will take a combination of personal responsibility and expanded government assistance to make the American Dream a reality for families who are now stuck at the bottom. The book calls for a gradual reallocation of federal resources from the elderly to working-age families and their children and a new set of policies to help the latter advance in these troubling economic times.
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Past Events
Is America Really an Opportunity Society?
October 27, 2009
Despite its status as one of the world’s leading and most innovative economies, the United States is faced with high poverty rates and less economic opportunity than many other affluent countries.
On October 27, Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill discussed their new book, Creating an Opportunity Society, which explores what it will take to help more people achieve the American Dream. Haskins, who served in the Bush administration, and Sawhill, who served in the Clinton administration, found common ground in exploring three proven routes to upward mobility: education, work and strong families. Drawing on a wealth of data and research on recent trends in poverty, inequality and economic mobility, they argue that it will take a combination of personal responsibility along with smarter and better-targeted government policies to make the American Dream a reality for children and families now stuck at the bottom. Their common-sense proposals are deficit-neutral, and they call for a gradual reallocation of federal resources from the elderly to working-age families and their children to help them advance in these troubling economic times.
The event was moderated by Brookings Senior Fellow and Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne. Panelists included commentators David Brooks and Juan Williams, and Deputy Mayor of New York City Linda Gibbs.
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