
American Meritocracy Is Killing Youth Sports - luu
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/11/income-inequality-explains-decline-youth-sports/574975/
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hydrox24
This is a good article, and the final paragraphs about the Norwegian model are
welcome in a world where so many articulate criticisms fail to offer any
positive suggestions.

I am not sure about the following paragraph though:

> For example, rich parents may pull special levers to get their kids into
> hyper-select schools, or elite internships, or exclusive entry-level jobs.
> In so doing, they—in effect— snatch precious opportunities away from the
> less fortunate.

> Parenting doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game, but it often is.

I find the zero-sum assumption here a little concerning. In terms of classical
economics, it is a good short term assumption (there are only so many
Internships or select schools) but a bad long term assumption (high profits
will incentivise more school to open up; though I haven't thought about
Internships enough to say either way).

Is there any evidence that these opportunities are relatively inelastic in the
long run? Or that the equilibrium is relatively zero-sum? i.e. that rich
families find a way to take advantage in a way that puts others down long
term?

