Poverty and Discrimination

by Lang, Kevin

• ISBN13: 9780691119540
• ISBN10: 0691119546
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-01-02
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Many ideas about poverty and discrimination are nothing more than politically driven assertions unsupported by evidence. And even politically neutral studies that do try to assess evidence are often simply unreliable. InPoverty and Discrimination, economist Kevin Lang cuts through the vast literature on poverty and discrimination to determine what we actually know and how we know it. Using rigorous statistical analysis and economic thinking to judge what the best research is and which theories match the evidence, this book clears the ground for students, social scientists, and policymakers who want to understand--and help reduce--poverty and discrimination. It evaluates how well antipoverty and antidiscrimination policies and programs have worked--and whether they have sometimes actually made the problems worse. And it provides new insights about the causes of, and possible solutions to, poverty and discrimination. The book begins by asking, "Who is poor?" and by giving a brief history of poverty and poverty policy in the United States in the twentieth century, including the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. Among the topics covered are the changing definition of poverty, the relation between economic growth and poverty, and the effects of labor markets, education, family composition, and concentrated poverty. The book then evaluates the evidence on racial discrimination in areas such as education, employment, and criminal justice, as well as sex discrimination in the labor market, and assesses the effectiveness of antidiscrimination policies. Throughout, the book is grounded in the conviction that we must have much better empirical knowledge of poverty and discrimination if we hope to reduce them.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
The Content of This Book	p. 2
Recent Developments in the Study of Poverty and Discrimination	p. 4
The Object of This Book	p. 8
Why Do Policy Analysts Disagree? The Limits of Statistical Arguments	p. 10
Why Do Policy Analysts Disagree? The Role of Values	p. 12
A Case Study: Retention in Grade	p. 13
Concluding Remarks	p. 17
Further Reading	p. 18
Questions for Discussion	p. 18
Appendix: A Quick Guide to Statistics	p. 19
Poverty
Who Is Poor?
Evidence on the Importance of Relative Income	p. 36
How the Government Measures Poverty	p. 37
Valuing Nonmonetary Income	p. 39
Over What Time Period Should We Measure Poverty?	p. 40
Other Problems with the Official Measure	p. 41
The National Academy of Sciences Report	p. 42
Gathering the Data	p. 42
Who Is Poor (By the Official Measure)?	p. 43
Extreme Poverty	p. 45
Homelessness	p. 45
Hunger and Food Insecurity	p. 48
Alternative Measures of Poverty	p. 51
The Dynamics of Poverty	p. 53
Why Does Poverty Last So Long for Some People?	p. 56
Concluding Remarks	p. 58
Further Reading	p. 58
Questions for Discussion	p. 59
Appendix: A Brief Note on Data	p. 61
The Evolution of Poverty Policy	p. 63
Federal Poverty Programs, 1970-2000	p. 63
Incentives under AFDC	p. 66
The Earned Income Tax Credit	p. 69
Cash or In-Kind Transfer: Which Is Better?	p. 78
Concluding Remarks	p. 81
Further Reading	p. 81
Questions for Discussion	p. 82
Trends in Poverty	p. 83
Trends Using the Official Measure	p. 83
Trends in Poverty under Alternate Measures	p. 86
Accounting for Trends	p. 87
Concluding Remarks	p. 102
Further Reading	p. 103
Questions for Discussion	p. 104
Appendix: Multivariate Analysis	p. 104
Labor Market Policies	p. 108
Understanding Wage Inequality	p. 108
Minimum Wage Laws	p. 115
Living Wage Laws	p. 120
Job Training Programs	p. 121
Can Job Training Programs Reduce Poverty?	p. 123
Evaluating the JTPA	p. 125
Evaluating the Job Corps and Other Youth Programs	p. 129
Training Programs and Tagging	p. 133
Welfare to Work: Work First	p. 134
Employer-Based Subsidies	p. 136
Concluding Remarks	p. 140
Further Reading	p. 140
Questions for Discussion	p. 140
Appendix: Adjusting for Program Nonparticipation	p. 141
Family Composition	p. 143
Births to Single Mothers	p. 144
Declining Marriage	p. 146
Changing Social Attitudes	p. 150
The Role of Welfare	p. 156
Features of Welfare	p. 158
Teenage Childbearing	p. 161
Effects of Growing Up with a Single Parent	p. 168
Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty	p. 172
Policies Aimed at Infants and Toddlers	p. 174
Preschool Programs	p. 177
Programs for School-Age Children	p. 182
Medicaid and SCHIP	p. 190
Concluding Remarks	p. 192
Further Reading	p. 194
Questions for Discussion	p. 196
Concentrated Poverty	p. 197
Life in High-Poverty Neighborhoods	p. 198
Do Neighborhoods Matter?	p. 198
The Gautreaux Program	p. 201
Moving to Opportunity	p. 202
Public Housing	p. 203
Gangs	p. 205
Community Development	p. 206
Concluding Remarks	p. 208
Further Reading	p. 209
Questions for Discussion	p. 210
Education and Education Reform	p. 211
Education and Earnings	p. 212
Testing	p. 213
Decentralization and School Quality	p. 221
Using Tests to Increase School and District Accountability	p. 236
Concluding Remarks	p. 239
Further Reading	p. 240
Questions for Discussion	p. 241
Welfare Reform	p. 243
The Case for Reform	p. 243
The Welfare Reform Act of 1996	p. 245
Assessing the Effects of Welfare Reform	p. 251
Effect on Welfare Receipt	p. 252
Welfare Reform and Well-Being	p. 254
Living Arrangements	p. 258
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