While Boston is rapidly becoming a hub of opportunity for some, the breadth of this financial instability exposes an inequality of opportunity that hurts both families and Boston's long-term economic prospects. If we want to begin to address inequality, we must ensure that families have the tools necessary to become economically resilient.

It turns out, we get results in the places we invest. The question is, are we investing in the right places?

Occasionally I run into people who want to argue that the increase in inequality is just the benign outcome of "just desserts" as economist Greg Mankiw frames it. It may boost those at the top, but not at the expense of others. By this metric, not so.