Economics & Inequality Retirement Security Education Health Care Homeland Security Election Reform Media & Politics International Affairs TCF Project Sites: Donate to TCF Join our Listserv  Taking Note Home About TCF News Room Join our Listserv Rags to Riches: The American Dream is Less Common in the United States than Elsewhere     Email    Printer-Friendly Bernard Wasow, The Century Foundation, 3/19/2004 Download in PDF format How many times have you heard “you can be what you want to be if only you work for it”? The American dream has brought millions to our shores, legally or surreptitiously, in search of upward economic mobility. And, over the decades, millions of children of immigrants or of working-class Americans have prospered and advanced in our competitive economy. But how easy is it for the children of poor parents to become prosperous? Recent evidence shows that there is much less mobility in the United States than most people assume. Read other reports in the Reality Check series here. Edition: Online/Paper    Pages: 8    Price: $3.50 Copyright 2010 The Century Foundation. Privacy Policy NY Office: 41 East 70th Street—New York, New York—10021—Phone:212-535-4441—212-879-9197 DC Office: 1333 H Street, NW—10th Floor— Washington, D.C. 20005— Phone: 202-387-0400— Fax: 202-483-9430