Suchergebnisse

Most examinations of United States domestic antipoverty policy are inherently parochial, for they are based on the experiences of only our nation in isolation from the others. However, cross-national comparisons can also teach lessons about antipoverty policy. While all nations value low poverty, high levels of economic self-reliance, and equality of opportunity for younger persons, they differ dramatically in the extent to which they reach these goals. Nations also exhibit differences in the extent to which working age adults mix economic self-reliance (earned incomes), family support, and government support to avoid poverty. We begin by reviewing international concepts and measures of poverty. The Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) database contains the information needed to construct comparable poverty measures for more than 30 nations. It allows comparisons of the level and trend of poverty and inequality across several nations, along with considerable detail on the sources of market incomes and public policies that shape these outcomes. We will highlight the different relationships between antipoverty policy and outcomes among several countries, and consider the implications of our analysis for research and for antipoverty policy in the United States. In doing so, we will draw on a growing body of evidence that evaluates antipoverty programs in a cross-national context. Many international bodies have publishes crossnational studies of the incidence of poverty in recent years, including the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Human Development Report, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Luxembourg Income Study. A large subset of these studies is based on LIS data.

Most cross-country comparisons of living standards focus on real Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) adjusted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person. These measures provide no variance in living standards within the nation, nor do they account for the amount of real incomes that families actually have to spend for themselves and their children. The Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) household microdata for 13 nations and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) PPP's and noncash benefit data are used to examine differences in the standard of living among children at various points in the income distribution. We include the value of noncash benefits for health care and education as well as money, and determine the value of public sector benefits compared to taxes paid for social transfers by this group. The results indicate a wide range of differences in levels of economic resources and support for children within, as well as between, nations. The levels of benefits, net of taxes paid, vary considerably across the income distribution in all countries, with noncash benefits for health and education playing a crucial role in determining which families are net beneficiaries or net taxpayers. The implications of these findings for equality of opportunity and for public policy, particularly in the United Kingdom and the Unites States, are drawn in conclusion.

THIS STUDY FINDS THAT LIFETIME CONTRIBUTIONS TO OASI BY LOW EARNERS MAKE THEM ONLY SLIGHTLY BETTER OFF THAN HAD THEY RELIED SOLELY ON SSI. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE INTERACTION OF SSI ON OASI LEAD TO SERIOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EQUITY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE CURRENT OASI-SSI SYSTEM AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF CONTINUING POLITICAL SUPPORT FOR IT.

Contents -- About the Authors -- Preface -- Introduction. Taking the Definition of Poverty Seriously -- Part I. Child Poverty and Inequality at the End of the Twentieth Century -- Chapter 1. Child Poverty in Rich Countries in the 1990s: An Overview -- Chapter 2. Patterns of Child Economic Well-Being -- Chapter 3. Child Poverty and Population: Is Demography Destiny? -- Chapter 4. Periods of Poverty: How Long Are Children Poor? -- Chapter 5. Income Packaging: Market Income and the State -- Chapter 6. Child Poverty and Income Packaging in Two-Parent Families

The 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) greatly increased the amount of financial support that families received from the credit and guaranteed the fully refundable benefit to all lower-income families with children, while continuing to pay half of the annual benefits monthly. Child poverty fell to its lowest level ever (5.2 percent) after the expansion but returned to its pre-pandemic level (12.4 percent) in 2022 upon the expansion's elimination. Notwithstanding the fact that a number of research questions about the exact effects of the 2021 expansion are yet to be answered, the articles in this volume present a strong case for a continued economic and social investment in the form of a longer-term child allowance. This summary discusses a number of key design issues for policies that aim to reduce child poverty, and I argue for research that can further substantiate the effects of a fully refundable CTC.

The PSID has remained a valuable vehicle for evidence-based policy research for decades and should remain so for many more. In this short review, I cover major policy-related strengths from PSID research in the areas of event history analysis; mobility and volatility; cross national comparisons; health and health insurance; mobility into and out of poverty; the effects of parental income on children; and the use of the child development sample to broaden the PSID policy focus in new and interesting ways. I also include the emerging study of longer term intergenerational patterns of mobility and transfer, including across three generations. Finally, I take up the question of how PSID data and methods could be further improved to make the survey more valuable to public policy, focusing on administrative data linkages.