Liz Hipple — New Fed paper suggests it’s not all millennials’ fault after all

What are the possible explanations for why millennials have lower incomes and fewer assets than did prior generations at similar ages? The authors conclude: “These balance sheet comparisons likely reflect, in part, the unfavorable labor and credit markets conditions that prevailed during the 2007–09 recession, some of which had prolonged effects.”

The Fed paper’s emphasis on the importance of the labor market conditions into which millennials graduated echoes the arguments made in my and my co-author Elisabeth Jacobs’ recent report, “Are today’s inequalities limiting tomorrow’s opportunities?” In the report, we lay out a framework for understanding the channels via which upward mobility can either be facilitated or impeded, arguing that while a great deal of attention is paid to factors that develop human capital such as education, more research is needed to understand how things such as prevailing labor market conditions can impede the deploymentof that human capital....

WCEG — The Equitablog
New Fed paper suggests it’s not all millennials’ fault after all
Liz Hipple