The classic promise of American Dream is that no matter where you grew up, no matter how poor you are, you can still have a financial stability in the United States as long as you work hard. That is. But the truth is that US poverty is much more sustainable than other high -income countries. In fact, poor American children are much less likely to escape poverty in adulthood than Denmark, Germany, or British poor children.
Obviously, it's not because Americans work hard. Many research shows the quality of your school, the quality of the school you have attended, the safety of your childhood, and how great the social network that can be accessed as a child plays. Masu. So my hope was that by focusing on social programs to reduce poverty in childhood, it was possible to reduce adult poverty over the long term.
However, it is important to instruct government resources to reduce the poverty of children, but why childhood is very likely that poverty is more likely to chase you through the United States than piercing countries. I do not explain. Recent studies emphasize that poor American children are very likely to become poor. It is surprisingly easy. Not only does the US government do not provide sufficient support to children, but not only adults need much more. A generous social safety net.
In order to better understand childhood, adult poverty and what can break the cycle, I am the master of the research, Zakary Parolin, and the University of Boccani University, and the University of Colombia on poverty and social policy. I talked to a senior researcher at the center. This is our conversation. This is edited for length and clarity.
The United States is proud to be a place with many upward mobility. But how does the United States actually compare up the mobility with his fellow?
Probably, compared to parents' income, many studies focusing on the mobility between generations are widely defined, based on the earnings of the adult age. I know from the literature that the effects of your parents's background tend to be more important in the United States than other high -income countries.
The slight difference in the approach to see this is, “If you just care about the sustainability between the generations of poverty?” In other words, if you are born in US poverty, you are poverty in Denmark, Germany, Australia, or the UK. What is the possibility of escaping your own adult poverty compared to the raised children? And we found that poverty in the United States is much more adhesive than other high -income countries. Therefore, if you become poor in the United States, your probability of becoming poor in adulthood is 2-4 times higher than some other high -income countries we saw.
Therefore, the results of the top line are particularly important for your adult economic results, and the United States has a bigger economic opportunity compared to your fellow countries. It means that this idea of being a land is impaired.
We focus on how important the important factors of childhood are for somebody's prospects for escaping the poverty of life, that is, the postal code, school, and social networks, What you found is one thing that lacks these conversations, which is the support of the government in the age of adulthood. , Not only childhood. How did you reach that conclusion?
I want to start by saying that I do not want to underestimate the importance of income support provided as a child. Reduction of child's property, direct income relocation, or reduction of other service -oriented rules is very important.
If we want to explain why the United States has much higher poverty than other high -income countries, the truly large part of the equation is in the United States. You're growing or being in an adult period -and maybe you haven't worked full -time, maybe you didn't get the college degree -the state supports you I'm doing much less.
Imagine two people to try this a little more. Both are growing in the poverty to spend half of their childhood. In the two countries, it is less likely to get a college degree compared to other children who have not grown in poverty. They may be less likely to work for full -time employment. However, Dane, who is still suffering from the results of growth in poverty, may grow up and still receive generous social support, but similar adults in the United States cannot access the same type of support. 。
Therefore, the prolonged result of the child's poverty about the income of adults may be strong in the United States due to the decrease in economic assistance provided by the state.
One of the surprising things found by your research is that black children are much more likely to grow in poverty than white children, but racism does not actually persist poverty. It was that. Caucasian children may be in the adult and are suffering from poverty. Can you explain why so?
Yes, we were actually surprised at this discovery. And we are trying to be cautious about how to explain it. It is certain that US black children have a much higher possibility than white. You can clearly see the data. However, the relationship between the child's poverty and the adult poverty is almost similar.
In our data, if you have a black child and a white child who spends half a child in poverty, it is possible that you will spend half of your childhood in poverty and you are poor in adults. It is almost the same for those two children. However, it is true that black children and adults are overall overall.
It is absolutely true that discrimination still exists, and that the discrimination is a major part of the reason why black individuals are exposed to more poverty, both in childhood and adults. However, what we have empirically found is that it is bad for you, considering a certain amount of exposure to poverty, and the United States is very bad compared to other countries. It is not racism. This is a factor in many other aspects of US economic opportunities.
Therefore, many of them seem quite obvious. It is very logical to say that if you grow up with more general support to people, they are less likely to be poor. So why is it important for people, especially policy creators, pay attention to your research? What are the lessons here we didn't know yet?
I think the big lessons are related to some of these generations. In other words, understanding how you are growing will affect the conditions you face adult. Understand how to think about it from a lens of fairness and fairness. And what can we do about it?
Reduction of poverty due to income relocation [like unemployment insurance benefits] It is a good thing, but what we are showing is that not only reduces difficulties, but also have the ability to reduce the connection between childhood poverty and adult poverty. 。 In other words, they have the ability to reduce the conditions you did not choose, the conditions you inherited as a result of your birth, and the economic situation of your parents when you are young. And the ability to meet your basic needs Your adult age.
Beyond the other reasons for reducing poverty in the short term, it is important to transfer their income in adults, generally childhood poverty and adult poverty. Here's another reason to understand why this link between them is so sticky. We are more than other countries.
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