INEQ organises a research seminar series, which centers on empirical research on the causes and consequences of (socio-)economic inequalities and their measurement, from both micro- and macro perspectives. As INEQ is a multidisciplinary institute, we welcome contributions across social science disciplines.

On April 13th, Zach Parolin (University of Oxford) will present at the Economics of Inequality Research Seminar. He will discuss the paper "The Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty in the United States".

Abstract

Children who grow up in poverty in the United States face a significantly higher risk of adult poverty compared to their peers in other wealthy nations. This study uses 50 years of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to investigate whether the expansion of the American welfare state has successfully weakened this intergenerational link. I begin by distinguishing the statistical properties of the intergenerational persistence of poverty (IGPov) from conventional mobility metrics, such as rank-rank slopes and intergenerational elasticities, showing that IGPov combines material concerns (prevailing poverty rates) with fairness considerations (the relative persistence of poverty). Despite substantial policy changes and declining child poverty rates in recent decades, I document that high rates of poverty persistence in the U.S. have remained stagnant over the past half-century. Beneath that stability, however, lie diverging mobility patterns by gender and race/ethnicity. Finally, I show that the mechanisms behind intergenerational poverty differ from standard mobility measures, with employment being far more important than education in linking childhood poverty to adulthood poverty. Aside from reducing poverty rates through direct taxes and transfers, reducing differences in adulthood employment rates for those from high-poverty backgrounds relative to adults from low-poverty backgrounds is the most direct route toward reducing the intergenerational persistence of poverty.

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