The Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty in High-Income Countries
Childhood poverty increases the likelihood of adult poverty. However, past research offers conflicting accounts of cross-national variation in the strength of, and mechanisms underpinning, the intergenerational persistence of poverty. This study investigates differences in intergenerational poverty in the United States (U.S.), Australia, Denmark, Germany, and United Kingdom (UK) using administrative- and survey-based panel datasets. We decompose intergenerational poverty into family background effects, mediation effects, tax/transfer insurance effects, and a residual poverty penalty. Intergenerational poverty in the U.S. is four times stronger than in Denmark and Germany, and twice as strong as in Australia and the UK. The U.S. disadvantage is not channeled through family background, mediators, neighborhood effects, or racial/ethnic discrimination. Instead, the U.S. has comparatively weak tax/transfer insurance effects and a more severe residual poverty penalty. Should the U.S. adopt the tax/transfer insurance effects of peer countries, its intergenerational poverty persistence could decline by more than one-third.
Date: 13 November 2024, 16:00 (Wednesday, 5th week, Michaelmas 2024)
Venue: Nuffield College, New Road OX1 1NF
Venue Details: Butler Room
Speaker: Zachary Parolin (Bocconi University [Nuffield College Visitor])
Organising department: Nuffield College
Organisers: Christiaan Monden (Nuffield College), Nan Dirk de Graaf (Nuffield College)
Organiser contact email address: sociology.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Nuffield College Sociology Seminars
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Maxine Collett