Markus Jäntti, Professor of Economics, Åbo Akademi University, Finland, and Timothy Smeeding, Distinguished Professor of Economics and Public Administration, Syracuse University, form a working group that will compare recent patterns of social and economic mobility in the United States with other advanced economies in an effort to determine whether America’s high rate of economic inequality is mitigated by greater economic mobility. They will focus in particular on the mechanisms – family background, inherited wealth, access to good education and health care, among others – which perpetuate advantage or disadvantage across generations. They will co-author a book presenting their findings and suggesting policies that might help improve mobility in an era of steadily rising inequality.