Compounding
Chetty thinks about revolution like an economist does: as a compounding accumulation of marginal changes. Bump the interest rate on your savings account by one notch, and 30 years later, your balance is much improved. Move a family to a better zip code, or foster the right conditions in that family’s current neighborhood, and their children will do better; do that a thousand times, or ten thousand, and the American dream can be more possible, for more people, than it is today.
This is from Raj Chetty’s American Dream
All the returns in life whether good or bad come from these small marginal changes we accumulate over time. This is not new although I never thought of it in the context of the place we choose to stay and its neighbourhood.
However, it is also important to remember that, it is not if we have made any of it but most of the times it is all about how we preserve and use it.