Getting Rich

This book is about wealth mobility, how some people get rich while others stay poor. The advantages of owning wealth and the nature of true wealth have long made questions about the wealthy appealing. In recent years, that interest has been amplified by economic changes and rising wealth inequality. Today, although the basic facts about wealth inequality are no longer a mystery, we still know little about who the wealthy are, how they got there, and what prevents other people from becoming rich. We know very little about the process of wealth mobility. This book explores wealth by investigating some of the most basic questions about wealth mobility. How much mobility is there? Has the nature of mobility changed over time? Is entrepreneurship important? How much does inheritance matter? What other factors encourage or prevent wealth mobility, and how do these change over the course of a person's life?

• Was the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of how much wealth mobility there is in the United States
• Data sets and methods to show that it is possible to get rich even if you did not start life in a rich family
• Proposes multiple theories on wealth accumulation