The approach to happiness and bad luck translates into expectations regarding the social security system, including taxes and benefits. If we assume that nobody is fully responsible for their achievements, social policy has to solve two problems. First of all, it is necessary to measure how much individual outcomes affect the initial conditions of childhood, the so-called uneven start: when a child comes into the world in a family with lower income, human capital, access to social networks, etc. The idea of ​​a welfare state it is based on equal opportunities so that the child's ability to obtain higher education and proper health care is not limited by the parents' life decisions. Research shows that so far we are not doing it much, because over 20 percent. pay inequalities can be attributed to uneven start, as demonstrated by Daniele Checchi (Politecnico di Milano) and Vito Peragine (University of Bari). What's more, the last three decades have been the decrease in the so-called income mobility in Europe (studies by the head of the Center for Economic Performance at LSE, Steve Machin), as well as in the USA (research by Raji Chetty's team). This is examined, among others by checking whether the income position of parents affects the income position of children. For example, if for every decile of parents' income I have the same chance of earning money in the middle of a decay, society is characterized by high mobility. Data for the US and the United Kingdom show that it is more and more likely every year that poor children will remain poor and rich people rich, while it is less likely to improve the social ladder from generation to generation.

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