How Much Does the Federal Government Spend to Promote Economic Mobility and for Whom?
In an economically mobile market economy, individuals and families are able to raise their private incomes, wealth and ability (sometimes referred to as human capital) over time and across generations. In the United States, many associate economic mobility with the pursuit of the American Dream. Education, work experience and saving enhance the opportunity for upward economic mobility. To this end, many federal spending and tax expenditure or tax subsidy programs aim to enhance economic mobility. But exactly how much does the federal government invest in the American Dream and encourage economic mobility? What form does this encouragement take? And who benefits from these efforts?
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(FEBRUARY 2008)
- Figure 1: Federal Spending on Mobility, 2006
- Figure 2: The Mobility Budget and Other Major Items, 2006
- Table 1: Share of Select Federal Tax Expenditures by Cash Income Percentile, 2006
- Figure 3: Mobility Budget by Major Category, 2006
- Figure 4: A Very Approximate Distribution of Mobility Spending Between Lower-Income and Higher-Income Households, 2006
- Table 2: Breakdown of Federal Expenditures, 2006
- Figure 5: Income Maintenance Budget by Major Category, 2006
- Figure 6: 1980-2012: Federal Spending on Mobility and Other Major Items
- Figure 7: Trend in Components of Mobility and Income Maintenance
- Figure 8a: 1980-2012: Federal Spending on Mobility by Category
- Figure 8b: 1980-2012: Federal Spending on Mobility by Category continued
