That's what you get when you focus on the outliers. I doubt that causality plays a big role in determining who becomes a billionaire (Zuckerberg, Gates, Buffett) and who stays a mere doctor, lawyer or congressman (father of Zuckerberg, father of Gates, father of Buffett).
But that is a question of who belongs to the 0.01% and who belongs to the 1%. It's not a very interesting social mobility study and I agree with you that the "rich get richer" argument makes no sense for the super rich outliers.
Unfortunately, things do get a lot more predictable at the lower percentiles.
But that is a question of who belongs to the 0.01% and who belongs to the 1%. It's not a very interesting social mobility study and I agree with you that the "rich get richer" argument makes no sense for the super rich outliers.
Unfortunately, things do get a lot more predictable at the lower percentiles.