Yes, Your Parents’ Status Does Influence Your Earning Power

"If you’re born poor, you die poor," a U.K. politician lamented six years ago. Sadly, little has changed.

Britain is joined by the U.S., France and Italy in having a high correlation between parents' earnings and those of their children, according to a report by Standard Life Investments. The relationship also exists in Scandinavian economies as well as Australia, Germany and Canada, but to a lesser extent.

That's creating challenges for the most-affected countries. Such societies tend to waste or misallocate human capital; workers are often less motivated and as a result, less productive; and the associated higher levels of inequality are found to be detrimental to economic growth, the research shows.