Gatsby Stays on Farm as Income Gap Limits Social Mobility

The ascent to dazzling affluence achieved by fictional farm boy Jay Gatsby is becoming increasingly less plausible, posing risks for U.S. economic prospects, studies show.

The widening gap between rich and poor -- exacerbated by wage stagnation, rising tuition costs and $6 trillion in wealth wiped out by the housing collapse -- is making it more difficult for today’s young people to have success climbing the income ladder than previous generations. Former White House economist Alan Krueger dubbed the income inequality-immobility link “The Great Gatsby Curve,” named after novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald’s protagonist.