It is not always about beautiful homes, lush holidays, and expensive educations. When sons and daughters of wealthy families inherit their entitled fortunes, there are often dramatic side effects. And this is causing many-a-billionaire to re-think what they leave behind. Imagine being given everything you could ever want from a young age. The best education, holidays and homes, then told you never really need to work because your family has more than enough money.
The children of rich families tend to go to better quality schools, have higher cognitive skills, and complete more years of schooling. This column exploits unique data from the National Child Development study to determine these early childhood factors go on to have long-run impacts on an individual’s lifetime earnings, perpetuating a cycle of wealth. These results suggest that policies that equalise investments, such as improving school quality, could promote income mobility.
