Educating middle Americans improves economic security, doesn't meaningfully reduce inequality
Brad Hershbein, Melissa Kearney and Lawrence Summers offer a simple little simulation that shows the limits of education as an inequality-fighter. In short, more education would be great news for middle and lower-income Americans, increasing their pay and economic security. It just isn't up to the task of meaningfully reducing inequality, which is being driven by the sharp upward movement of the very top of the income distribution.
Assumes 10 percent of working-age men without advanced education receive a college degree, and begin earning wages typical of college graduates. Then nationwide Gini would fall from 57 % to 55%.
It's worth pursuing more and better education for working-class Americans on its own terms, because it will improve their lives and economic potential. Inequality, meanwhile, is a deeper problem, and its potential solutions remain ideologically divisive.