Child Poverty and Deprivation in the Industrialized Countries, 1945-1995

by Cornia, Giovanni Andrea; Danziger, Sheldon

• ISBN13: 9780198290759
• ISBN10: 0198290756
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-12-04
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The authors in this volume utilize a common analytical framework to evaluate how economic, family structure, and public policy changes affected the well-being of children in the industrialized countries in the West and the East from the end of the Second World War to the mid-1990s. Throughout the industrialized world, the living standards and social well-being of children improved remarkably over these five decades. But the quarter-century 'golden age' that followed the Second World War gave way to a period of stagnation after the early 1970s. Many of the negative developments of the past two decades could not have been easily prevented because of the profound structural changes that have affected all industrialised economies and the profound political changes that have affected the former Soviet Bloc. Nonetheless, adverse or neglectful social policies share some of the blame for the recent unfavourable changes in child well-being. The evidence presented suggests that, given current economic prospects and family structures, further weakening of social policies targeted at children could erode much of the progress of the past fifty years.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	xi
1. Common Themes, Methodological Approach, and Main Findings	1	(24)
Giovanni Andrea Cornia
Sheldon Danziger
PART I: CHILD POVERTY AND DEPRIVATION: FROM THE GOLDEN AGE, TO STAGNATION, TO TRANSITION	25	(128)
2. Child Poverty and Deprivation in the Industrialized Countries from the End of World War II to the End of the Cold War Era	25	(39)
Giovanni Andrea Cornia
3. Growth, Public Expenditure, and Household Welfare in Industrialized Countries	64	(27)
Andrea Boltho
4. Investing in Children: Government Expenditure for Children and their Families in Western Industrialized Countries	91	(31)
Sheila B. Kamerman
Alfred J. Kahn
5. Family Policies in Eastern Europe: From Socialism to the Market	122	(31)
Gaspar Fajth
Tatiana Zimakova
PART II: NATIONAL CASE-STUDIES	153	(184)
6. Child Poverty and Deprivation in Russia: Improvement, Standstill, and Retrogression	153	(28)
Giovanni Andrea Cornia
7. The American Paradox: High Income and High Child Poverty	181	(29)
Sheldon Danziger
Sandra Danziger
Jonathan Stern
8. Child Welfare in the United Kingdom: Rising Poverty, Falling Priorities for Children	210	(23)
Jonathan Bradshaw
9. Child Welfare in Portugal amidst Fast Growth and Weak Social Policy	233	(27)
Manuela Silva
10. Growth, Regional Imbalance, and Child Well-Being: Italy over the Last Four Decades	260	(24)
Chiara Saraceno
11. Advancing for Children in the Advanced Welfare State: Current Problems and Prospects in Sweden	284	(23)
Sven E. Olsson Hort
12. Child Well-Being in Japan: The High Cost of Economic Success	307	(30)
Martha N. Ozawa
Shigemi Kono
PART III: EMERGING PROBLEMS IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA	337	(53)
13. Recession, Social Policy, and Child Welfare in Post-Communist Eastern Europe: Which Way Ahead?	337	(31)
Giovanni Andrea Cornia
14. Making Social Policy Work for Children: Towards a More Effective Antipoverty Policy	368	(22)
Timothy Smeeding
Sheldon Danziger
Lee Rainwater
Bibliography	390	(31)
Index	421