Intergenerational poverty is the condition of people remaining in poverty from childhood to adulthood. Children who are raised in low-income families have higher rates of ill health, lower educational attainment, lower labor force participation, and greater exposure to violence. In response to these detriments, the U.S. Congress directed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to identify the key drivers of intergenerational poverty and recommend evidence-based policy solutions to reduce it. To fulfill the congressional directive, the academies formed a committee composed of experts in poverty research.
Reducing Intergenerational Poverty documents the committee’s findings and recommendations. The book identifies seven factors that affect intergenerational poverty: children’s education; children’s health and the healthcare system; family income and wealth; family structure; housing, geographic mobility, and neighborhood conditions; neighborhood safety and criminal justice; and child maltreatment and the child welfare system. The book also includes chapters on the economic and social costs of intergenerational poverty, on racial disparities and structural factors, and on improving intergenerational poverty data sources. In addition, an extensive appendix documents the committee’s research. This review focuses on the committee’s analysis of the seven factors affecting intergenerational poverty.
Effective education is a fundamental cause of upward intergenerational mobility because it allows children to gain skills sought by employers. However, children from low-income families typically start school with lower levels of academic and social skills. The committee recommends several policies for improving the education outcomes of children at different levels of schooling. At the K–12 level, these policies include an increase in spending for the most underfunded schools, an increase in teacher diversity (an educational benefit to children of minority groups), and a reduction in exclusionary discipline. At the postsecondary level, the main proposal is for an increase in federal funding for low-income students. Also, the committee recommends increased career training for high school students and low-income parents.
Children in low-income families have poorer physical and mental health and below-average school performance. Because a causal connection exists between children’s health and future earnings, the committee identifies three policy approaches for improving the health of children in low-income families. First, the committee recommends increased funding for Title X family planning services, observing that greater women’s access to reproductive services results in long-term social improvements for children. Second, the committee recommends increased funding for public health programs, showing that, in the past, expanded program coverage for children has resulted in better health outcomes, improved academic performance, and greater lifetime earnings. Third, the committee recommends expanded food-purchase assistance for permanent residents under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, providing evidence that such assistance reduces the prevalence of intergenerational poverty.
Low wages and income perpetuate economic disadvantages, preventing low-income parents from providing their children with proper nutrition, medical care, and learning activities. The committee shows that reductions in child poverty are correlated with increases in work incomes and income transfers. For example, the poverty rate, as measured by the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), declined 45 percent between 1967 and 2016, a period of economic growth. Likewise, an expansion of the Child Tax Credit in 2021 reduced the SPM for children from 9.7 to 5.2 percent. A review of policy changes over the past 30 years also shows that expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has the potential to reduce the prevalence of intergenerational poverty. Accordingly, the committee proposes various expansions of the EITC, including transfers to families with no earnings.
The committee finds a strong association between single-parent families and childhood poverty. Single-parent families are most prevalent among parents without college degrees. Several studies reviewed by the committee show that children raised by married parents are more likely to receive better grades in school and complete a bachelor’s degree. Despite these findings, the committee finds no strong evidence for any programs or policies that can foster marriages.
The committee shows that intergenerational poverty has been consistently correlated with poor housing conditions. The book documents the long-term benefits accrued by children in families that move to neighborhoods with lower poverty levels. Although the committee finds no direct evidence of housing programs that reduce the prevalence of intergenerational poverty, it does discuss the use of rental vouchers in increasing housing mobility.
The committee shows that exposure to violence and involvement in the criminal justice system have long-term detrimental effects on children’s health, school achievement, and economic outcomes. The book provides several recommendations that can address these effects and reduce intergenerational poverty. First, the incarceration of young people should be restricted to those who are a serious and immediate danger to others. Second, legislation should be adopted that reduces young people’s exposure to gun violence and access to firearms. Third, funding should be provided to convert vacant lots to useful purposes, to rehabilitate abandoned homes, and to support the formation of community organizations. These practices have been shown to reduce young people’s exposure to crime.
The committee finds that children who have experienced abuse, neglect, and involvement with child welfare authorities are more likely to suffer detrimental economic outcomes as adults. Small increases in income have been documented to reduce the likelihood of children becoming involved with child protective services. Additionally, healthcare access for children and adults has been effective in reducing the maltreatment of children. Although the committee finds no strong direct evidence that programs related to addressing child maltreatment, neglect, and involvement with child welfare services have reduced intergenerational poverty, it sees promise in direct income transfers to low-income families, expansions of Medicaid and food-purchase subsidies, and community parenting programs.
Reducing Intergenerational Poverty is an engaging, clear, and thorough account of research on poverty’s prevalence, costs, and intergenerational transmission. Given that the book covers a wide range of topics, it will be of use to experienced researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and anyone interested in poverty research. The extensive literature review is current, providing readers new to the field with an excellent entry point for their studies. Because the chapters can be read individually, the book can supplement the main readings in social science courses.
United States Department of Labor
