Politicians say that “if you work hard and play by the rules” then even low-income citizens can move up the economic ladder. But what if the rules are rigged to only benefit the wealthiest Americans?

Dr. Ryan Mattson and coauthor Ben Johnson argue that more than four decades of policy changes have cemented economic rules that condemn all people, except in top income brackets, to repetitive cycles of downward mobility. The growing economic inequality corrodes communities, jobs, schools, and civic cohesion. Persistent and worsening inequality could fuel dire societal divisions.

Join this live interview with the authors. They will field questions from participants.

Dr. Ryan Mattson is a macroeconomist with a PhD from the University of Kansas. Ben Johnson is a writer whose academic work has focused on international relations, Russian language, and public policy.

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