Towards social mobility-friendly policies

The chapter builds on the insights gained in the previous chapters to make policy recommendations on how to improve social mobility across and within generations. It relies on the two premises that societies should grant equal opportunities to all of their citizens and that they should attempt to protect individuals’ and households’ income trajectories against adverse personal and labour market shocks. The chapter identifies five broad policy areas on which countries should focus to improve citizen’s mobility prospects: health and family policies, education, labour market policies, tax-and-transfer policies and local and urban policies. For each of these areas, it presents a selection of best-practice programmes and policy initiatives that were recently implemented in OECD countries and emerging economies and that are suited to improve mobility outcomes.