As I have discussed previously, important research by Stanford economist Raj Chetty and his co-authors has shown that intergenerational income mobility in the United States—a child’s chances of moving up in the income distribution relative to his or her parents—has remained stable over the past half century.1 However, because of the increase in income inequality and stagnant or declining incomes for the least well-off, the consequences of being born to low- versus high-income 2/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  parents are greater today than in the past. These trends have contributed to a steady decline in “absolute” upward income mobility in the United States, as defined by the share of children who earn more in real terms than their parents. This fraction has fallen from 90 percent to 50 percent over the past half century. Recent work by Chetty and his co-authors has investigated the importance of higher education in achieving upward mobility. They find that many highly qualified lower-income students do not attend selective colleges, while those low- and middle-income students who do—despite facing greater challenges—fare almost as well as affluent students who attend the same colleges. Their research also indicates that some colleges are better engines of upward income mobility than others, and that colleges that offered the largest number of low-income students pathways to upward mobility have become less accessible to them during the 2000s. As a result, highereducation’s contribution to increasing intergenerational mobility has diminished. It is unclear why access has fallen to colleges with relatively high mobility rates.

William C Dudley: Household borrowing, student debt trends and homeownership Opening remarks by Mr William C Dudley, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the Economic Press Briefing on Household Borrowing, Student Debt Trends and Homeownership, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York City, 3 April 2017. * * * Andrew Haughwout, Joseph Tracy and Wilbert van der Klaauw assisted in preparing these remarks. Good morning, and welcome to the New York Fed’s Economic Press Briefing. Today, we will focus on recent developments in household borrowing, with special attention on student debt. As always, what I have to say reflects my own views and not necessarily those of the Federal Open Market Committee or the Federal Reserve System. Following a period of steady deleveraging that began during the Great Recession, households have gradually increased their borrowing during the past three years. Later this year, total household debt is expected to reach its previous peak, from the third quarter of 2008. Given past experience, one might wonder whether this level of indebtedness is sustainable or a reason for concern. Answering this question requires a fuller consideration of household balance sheets and a deeper analysis of who is indebted. The increase in liabilities in recent years has been accompanied by significant improvements in the value of assets held by households, due to strong growth in housing and stock prices. Moreover, household incomes have been rising at a moderate pace due to sturdy job gains and modest wage increases.