To mark the launch of their new book, Lee Elliot Major and Steve Machin will discuss cutting-edge research into how social mobility has changed in Britain over the years.

What are the effects of decreasing social mobility? How does education help - and hinder - us in improving our life chances? Why are so many of us stuck on the same social rung as our parents?

Apart from the USA, Britain has the lowest social mobility in the Western world. The lack of movement in who gets where in society - particularly when people are stuck at the bottom and the top - costs the nation dear, both in terms of the unfulfilled talents of those left behind and an increasingly detached elite, disinterested in improvements that benefit the rest of society. This book analyses cutting-edge research into how social mobility has changed in Britain over the years, the shifting role of schools and universities in creating a fairer future, and the key to what makes some countries and regions so much richer in opportunities, bringing a clearer understanding of what works and how we can better shape our future.

Lee Elliot Major (@Lem_SuttonTrust) is Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust and a founding trustee of the Education Endowment Foundation.

Stephen Machin (@s_machin_) is Professor of Economics, and Director of the Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

Minouche Shafik is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to this she was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.

CEP (@CEP_LSE) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the LSE. Established by the ESRC in 1990, is now one of the leading economic research groups in Europe.