I have to tell you, I was surprised to read this:

I find that I’m completely convinced by the main premise of the Bartels/Krugman line, which is that a great deal of the increase in inequality has been an effect of Republican approaches to taxation and redistribution.

That’s Will Wilkinson, discussing a new book by Larry Bartels on the political roots of inequality. Even the liberal Ryan Avent believes that only some, and substantially less than a “great deal,” of the increase in inequality is due to the direct effects of taxation and redistribution. Will’s fellow libertarians Brink Lindsey and Tyler Cowen join me in believing that research by Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz offers the more promising explanation for much of the widening in the income spectrum. They argue that the big jumps in inequality are due to a slowdown in the growth of skilled worker supply. This supply constraint boosts the premium earned by the most educated workers and holds down wages for the unskilled.

I was not surprised to read Will’s follow-up assessment of the policy implications, however:

I do think economic stratification is pernicious, but that has more to do with the Democratic Party standing in the way of fundamental structural reform in education as it has to do with Republican tax cuts for rich people, doesn’t it?

I don’t want to cannibalize a piece I’ve written on this topic that maybe, hopefully, eventually will be published, but the short answer is no. No, it does not. Will and I have argued about the virtues of school choice before, but I think that whatever gains are available from structural reform of public schools are likely to be small. There are deeper and more persistent problems of an intergenerational nature, that have to do with accumulation of social capital. Being born poor is very tough to overcome, no matter how good or innovative your K-12 programs are. I am of the opinion that we’re better off investing heavily in pre-K programs and in extensive college financial aid. Even then we’ll need to recognize that social capital accumulation is the work of generations, and heavy investment in education won’t level the playing field for today’s students–not entirely.