Changing Poverty, Changing Policies

by Maria Cancian (Editor), Sheldon H. Danziger (Editor)

Poverty declined significantly in the decade after Lyndon Johnson's 1964 declaration of "War on Poverty." Dramatically increased federal funding for education and training programs, social security benefits, other income support programs, and a growing economy reduced poverty and raised expectations that income poverty could be eliminated within a generation. Yet the official poverty rate has never fallen below its 1973 level and remains higher than the rates in many other advanced economies. In this book, editors Maria Cancian and Sheldon Danziger and leading poverty researchers assess why the War on Poverty was not won and analyze the most promising strategies to reduce poverty in the twenty-first century economy. Changing Poverty, Changing Policies documents how economic, social, demographic, and public policy changes since the early 1970s have altered who is poor and where antipoverty initiatives have kept pace or fallen behind. Part I shows that little progress has been made in reducing poverty, except among the elderly, in the last three decades. The chapters examine how changing labor market opportunities for less-educated workers have increased their risk of poverty (Rebecca Blank), and how family structure changes (Maria Cancian and Deborah Reed) and immigration have affected poverty (Steven Raphael and Eugene Smolensky). Part II assesses the ways childhood poverty influences adult outcomes. Markus Jäntti finds that poor American children are more likely to be poor adults than are children in many other industrialized countries. Part III focuses on current antipoverty policies and possible alternatives. Jane Waldfogel demonstrates that policies in other countries―such as sick leave, subsidized child care, and schedule flexibility―help low-wage parents better balance work and family responsibilities. Part IV considers how rethinking and redefining poverty might take antipoverty policies in new directions. Mary Jo Bane assesses the politics of poverty since the 1996 welfare reform act. Robert Haveman argues that income-based poverty measures should be expanded, as they have been in Europe, to include social exclusion and multiple dimensions of material hardships. Changing Poverty, Changing Policies shows that thoughtful policy reforms can reduce poverty and promote opportunities for poor workers and their families. The authors' focus on pragmatic measures that have real possibilities of being implemented in the United States not only provides vital knowledge about what works but real hope for change.

440 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for my social policy class, unsure if I would’ve picked it up voluntarily considering it’s pretty dense but it’s been an interesting look into anti-poverty and the history of us welfare programs!

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very solid compendium of facts and figures on poverty and poverty policy. Well worth reading, if like me, you're interested in the subject but haven't necessarily followed all the research closely.

The book gives an excellent overview of the impact that the welfare reform of the mid-90s and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) have had on poverty. The picture is mixed. On the one hand, wages from work are now the single biggest source of income for poor families, instead of cash welfare assistance. It does seem that these reforms have been successful in increasing work among the poor. On the other hand, these reforms haven't done much to decrease poverty or to make the average poor family much better off. Poverty levels have basically fluctuated according to the overall state of the economy, and the average poor family is slightly worse off, in an income sense, than they were before welfare reform.

There are some interesting chapters on education and job training, which challenge the conventional wisdom that "nothing works", although they do point out that there is very little rigorous data on what works.

There's a short but fascinating chapter on the politics of poverty policy. It notes that Americans in general have strikingly negative attitudes towards "the poor" (whom they regard as people who don't work) and towards tax increases of any kind, but increasingly favorable attitudes towards ideas like "helping people who can't help themselves" or even "the government should guarantee a minimum standard of food and shelter for everyone." This suggests that by reframing the debate on poverty, or by making Americans more aware that the majority of the non-disabled non-elderly poor do work, you might actually garner political support for a renewed attack on poverty.

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want solid facts and cogent analysis on nearly any topic relating to poverty policy, check out this book. I was assigned it for class and was holding out on actually buying it until I started reading it and realized that every chapter I read provided helpful information that synthesizes the literature and distinguishes between promising programs and less effective ones. Plus it was published very recently (2009), so all the info is current. I'm sure I'm going to be referring to it for a long time.