BIRTH OUGHT NOT BE FATE!!: "PREDISTRIBUTION, NOT REDISTRIBUTION"

James J. Heckman, Giving Kids a Fair Chance (A Boston Review Books) (Cambridge, Massachusetts, & London, England: MIT Press, 2013) ("The accident of birth is a principal source of inequality in America today. American society is dividing into skilled and unskilled, and the roots of this division lie in early childhood experiences. Kids born into disadvantaged environments are at much greater risk of being unskilled, having low lifetime earnings, and facing a range of personal and social troubles, including poor health, teen pregnancy, and crime. While we celebrate equality of opportunity, we live in a society in which birth is becoming fate." "This powerful impact o birth on life chances is bad for individuals born into disadvantage. And it is bad for American society. We are losing out on the potential contributions of large numbers of our citizens." Id. at 3. "There are many calls to redistribute income to address poverty and promote social mobility. The thrust of much recent work is that while redistribution surely reduces social inequality at a point in time, it does not, by itself, improve long-term social mobility or inclusion. This essay shows that predistribution--improving the early lives of disadvantage children--is far more effective than simple redistribution in promoting social inclusion, and, at the same time, at  promoting economic efficiency and workforce productivity. Predistribution policies are both fair and economically efficient." Id. at 38).