Education is considered a key driver of intergenerational social mobility in the United States. However, the past several decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in the costs of college attendance, which puts political pressure on what the roles of government and families in education financing ought to be. In this study, we examine how individuals' perception of society's intergenerational mobility affects their willingness to financially support children in college, as well as their opinion on whether the government should take a smaller or bigger role. Perceptions of mobility matter because they reflect individuals' estimated opportunity structure and thereby an important component of returns to education. Using data from a nationally representative online survey and a novel design to measure perceived mobility, we show that (1) individuals who believe to live in a more mobile society exhibit more aversion toward government spending and a preference for students relying on family support; (2) these associations are stronger among higher-SES groups; and (3) information treatments randomly assigning objective social mobility facts make individuals who overestimate the level of social mobility even more eager to contribute to tuition costs. These findings suggest that learning about factual levels of mobility reinforces existing beliefs and possibly their consequences for educational investment.

教育被认为是美国代际社会流动的关键驱动力。然而，过去几十年见证了大学入学成本的急剧增加，这给政府和家庭在教育融资中应该扮演的角色带来了政治压力。在这项研究中，我们研究了个人对社会代际流动的看法如何影响他们在经济上支持孩子上大学的意愿，以及他们对政府应该扮演更小还是更大角色的看法。对流动性的看法很重要，因为它们反映了个人估计的机会结构，因此是教育回报的重要组成部分。使用来自具有全国代表性的在线调查的数据和一种新颖的设计来衡量感知流动性，我们表明（1）相信生活在流动性更强的社会中的个人对政府支出表现出更多的反感，并且更倾向于依赖家庭支持的学生；（2）这些关联在更高社会经济地位的群体中更强；(3) 随机分配客观社会流动性事实的信息处理使高估社会流动性水平的个人更加渴望为学费做出贡献。这些发现表明，了解流动性的实际水平可以强化现有的信念，并可能强化它们对教育投资的影响。(3) 随机分配客观社会流动性事实的信息处理使高估社会流动性水平的个人更加渴望为学费做出贡献。这些发现表明，了解流动性的实际水平可以强化现有的信念，并可能强化它们对教育投资的影响。(3) 随机分配客观社会流动性事实的信息处理使高估社会流动性水平的个人更加渴望为学费做出贡献。这些发现表明，了解流动性的实际水平可以强化现有的信念，并可能强化它们对教育投资的影响。