Record Details

Replication Data for: The Dynamic American Dream

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title Replication Data for: The Dynamic American Dream
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QTMOVG
 
Creator Wolak, Jennifer
Peterson, David A. M.
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description The American Dream is central to the national ethos, reflecting people’s optimism that all who are willing to work hard can achieve a better life than their parents. Separate from the support for the idea of the American Dream itself is whether the public believes it is attainable. We consider the origins and dynamics of the public’s belief in the achievability of the American Dream. Is the American Dream a symbolic vision, rooted in political socialization rather than contemporary politics? Or does optimism about the American Dream follow from the viability of the dream, rising with economic prosperity and falling with declining opportunity? We develop a new macro-level measure of belief in the American Dream from 1973 to 2018. We show that it moves over time, responsive to changes in social mobility, income inequality, and economic perceptions. As inequality increases, belief in the attainability of the American Dream declines.
 
Subject Social Sciences
American Dream
 
Contributor Wolak, Jennifer
 
Source U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic
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stimson.web.unc.edu/files/2017/08/Mood5216.xls


University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. 2019. “Index of Consumer Sentiment.”
Accessed June 1, 2019. www.sca.isr.umich.edu/tables.html


Fading American Dream, file name “Baseline Estimates of Absolute Mobility by Parent Income Percentile and Child Birth Cohort.” opportunityinsights.org/data/