George and Paris explained

I can't believe how this Bell Curve nonsense continues to creep back up on us despite the best efforts of sensible people everywhere to beat it down wherever it rears its ugly head.

The latest incarnation comes from Michael Barrone's column, in which he claims that economic mobility is down because society is increasingly stratified by cognitive ability. And what evidence does he give to back up his claim that we now live in an intellectual meritocracy? Well, economic mobility is down. The guys who wrote the Bell Curve predicted it. And besides. Who really wants the stress of being a CEO when " all you need to do to avoid poverty in this country is to graduate from high school, get and stay married, and take any job. "

Brad DeLong does a more thorough job of taking out the intellectual garbage...with an assist from Mark Thoma.