Americans like to believe that theirs is the land of opportunity, but the hard facts are that children born into poor families in the United States tend to stay poor and children born into wealthy families generally stay rich. Other countries have shown more success at lessening the effects of inequality on mobility--possibly by making public investments in education, health, and family well-being that offset the private advantages of the wealthy. What can the United States learn from these other countries about how to provide children from disadvantaged backgrounds an equal chance in life? Making comparisons across ten countries, "Persistence, Privilege, and Parenting" brings together a team of eminent international scholars to examine why advantage and disadvantage persist across generations. The book sheds light on how the social and economic mobility of children differs within and across countries and the impact private family resources, public policies, and social institutions may have on mobility. In what ways do parents pass advantage or disadvantage on to their children? "Persistence, Privilege, and Parenting" is an expansive exploration of the relationship between parental socioeconomic status and background and the outcomes of their grown children. The authors also address the impact of education and parental financial assistance on mobility. This book contain five parts. Chapter 1 presents an introduction by Timothy M. Smeeding, Robert Erikson, and Markus Jantti. Part I, Longer-Term Framing Studies of Parental SES and Adult-Child Outcomes, contains: (2) Understanding the Mechanisms Behind Intergenerational Persistence: A Comparison of the United States and Great Britain (Jo Blanden, Kathryn Wilson, Robert Haveman, and Timothy M. Smeeding); (3) Economic Mobility, Family Background, and the Well-Being of Children in the United States and Canada (Miles Corak, Lori J. Curtis, and Shelley Phipps); (4) Status Attainment and Wealth in the United States and Germany (Fabian T. Pfeffer); (5) Occupations and Social Mobility: Gradational, Big-Class, and Micro-Class Reproduction in Comparative Perspective (Jan O. Jonsson, David B. Grusky, Reinhard Pollak, Matthew Di Carlo, and Carina Mood). Part II, Early Childhood and Preschool Effects, contains: (6) Income-Related Gaps in School Readiness in the United States and the United Kingdom (Jane Waldfogel and Elizabeth Washbrook); and (7) Economic Deprivation in Early Childhood and Adult Attainment: Comparative Evidence from Norwegian Registry Data and the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (Greg J. Duncan, Kjetil Telle, Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest, and Ariel Kalil). Part III, Education, contains: (8) Causal Effects of Parents' Education on Children's Education (John Ermisch and Chiara Pronzato); and (9) Children's Cognitive Ability and Parents' Education: Distinguishing the Impact of Mothers and Fathers (John Jerrim and John Micklewright). Part IV, Direct Monetary Transfers, contains: (10) Unequal Giving: Monetary Gifts to Children Across Countries and over Time (Julie M. Zissimopoulos and James P. Smith); Part V, Social and Labor Market Institutions, contains: (11) The Role of Social Institutions in Intergenerational Mobility (Brian Nolan, Gosta Esping-Andersen, Christopher T. Whelan, Bertrand Maitre, and Sander Wagner). An index is included.