research questions about poverty and education

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Robert Sampson, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, is one of the researchers studying the link between poverty and social mobility.

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Unpacking the power of poverty

Peter Reuell

Harvard Staff Writer

Study picks out key indicators like lead exposure, violence, and incarceration that impact children’s later success

Social scientists have long understood that a child’s environment — in particular growing up in poverty — can have long-lasting effects on their success later in life. What’s less well understood is exactly how.

A new Harvard study is beginning to pry open that black box.

Conducted by Robert Sampson, the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, and Robert Manduca, a doctoral student in sociology and social policy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the study points to a handful of key indicators, including exposure to high levels of lead, violence, and incarceration as key predictors of children’s later success. The study is described in an April paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“What this paper is trying to do, in a sense, is move beyond the traditional neighborhood indicators people use, like poverty,” Sampson said. “For decades, people have shown poverty to be important … but it doesn’t necessarily tell us what the mechanisms are, and how growing up in poor neighborhoods affects children’s outcomes.”

To explore potential pathways, Manduca and Sampson turned to the income tax records of parents and approximately 230,000 children who lived in Chicago in the 1980s and 1990s, compiled by Harvard’s Opportunity Atlas project. They integrated these records with survey data collected by the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, measures of violence and incarceration, census indicators, and blood-lead levels for the city’s neighborhoods in the 1990s.

They found that the greater the extent to which poor black male children were exposed to harsh environments, the higher their chances of being incarcerated in adulthood and the lower their adult incomes, measured in their 30s. A similar income pattern also emerged for whites.

Among both black and white girls, the data showed that increased exposure to harsh environments predicted higher rates of teen pregnancy.

Despite the similarity of results along racial lines, Chicago’s segregation means that far more black children were exposed to harsh environments — in terms of toxicity, violence, and incarceration — harmful to their mental and physical health.

“The least-exposed majority-black neighborhoods still had levels of harshness and toxicity greater than the most-exposed majority-white neighborhoods, which plausibly accounts for a substantial portion of the racial disparities in outcomes,” Manduca said.

“It’s really about trying to understand some of the earlier findings, the lived experience of growing up in a poor and racially segregated environment, and how that gets into the minds and bodies of children.” Robert Sampson

“What this paper shows … is the independent predictive power of harsh environments on top of standard variables,” Sampson said. “It’s really about trying to understand some of the earlier findings, the lived experience of growing up in a poor and racially segregated environment, and how that gets into the minds and bodies of children.”

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The study isn’t solely focused on the mechanisms of how poverty impacts children; it also challenges traditional notions of what remedies might be available.

“This has [various] policy implications,” Sampson said. “Because when you talk about the effects of poverty, that leads to a particular kind of thinking, which has to do with blocked opportunities and the lack of resources in a neighborhood.

“That doesn’t mean resources are unimportant,” he continued, “but what this study suggests is that environmental policy and criminal justice reform can be thought of as social mobility policy. I think that’s provocative, because that’s different than saying it’s just about poverty itself and childhood education and human capital investment, which has traditionally been the conversation.”

The study did suggest that some factors — like community cohesion, social ties, and friendship networks — could act as bulwarks against harsh environments. Many researchers, including Sampson himself, have shown that community cohesion and local organizations can help reduce violence. But Sampson said their ability to do so is limited.

“One of the positive ways to interpret this is that violence is falling in society,” he said. “Research has shown that community organizations are responsible for a good chunk of the drop. But when it comes to what’s affecting the kids themselves, it’s the homicide that happens on the corner, it’s the lead in their environment, it’s the incarceration of their parents that’s having the more proximate, direct influence.”

Going forward, Sampson said he hopes the study will spur similar research in other cities and expand to include other environmental contamination, including so-called brownfield sites.

Ultimately, Sampson said he hopes the study can reveal the myriad ways in which poverty shapes not only the resources that are available for children, but the very world in which they find themselves growing up.

“Poverty is sort of a catchall term,” he said. “The idea here is to peel things back and ask, What does it mean to grow up in a poor white neighborhood? What does it mean to grow up in a poor black neighborhood? What do kids actually experience?

“What it means for a black child on the south side of Chicago is much higher rates of exposure to violence and lead and incarceration, and this has intergenerational consequences,” he continued. “This is particularly important because it provides a way to think about potentially intervening in the intergenerational reproduction of inequality. We don’t typically think about criminal justice reform or environmental policy as social mobility policy. But maybe we should.”

This research was supported with funding from the Project on Race, Class & Cumulative Adversity at Harvard University, the Ford Foundation, and the Hutchins Family Foundation.

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Ten Important Questions About Child Poverty and Family Economic Hardship

Publication Type Report
Post date December 1, 2009

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What is the Nature of Poverty and Economic Hardship in the United States?

What does it mean to experience poverty?
How is poverty measured in the United States?
Are Americans who experience poverty now better off than a generation ago?
How accurate are commonly held stereotypes about poverty and economic hardship?

How Serious is the Problem of Economic Hardship for American Families?

How many children in the U.S. live in families with low incomes?
Are some children and families at greater risk for economic hardship than others?
What are the effects of economic hardship on children?

Is it Possible to Reduce Economic Hardship among American Families?

Why is there so much economic hardship in a country as wealthy as the U.S.?
Why should Americans care about family economic hardship?
What can be done to increase economic security for America’s children and families?

1. What does it mean to experience poverty?

Families and their children experience poverty when they are unable to achieve a minimum, decent standard of living that allows them to participate fully in mainstream society. One component of poverty is material hardship. Although we are all taught that the essentials are food, clothing, and shelter, the reality is that the definition of basic material necessities varies by time and place. In the United States, we all agree that having access to running water, electricity, indoor plumbing, and telephone service are essential to 21st century living even though that would not have been true 50 or 100 years ago.

To achieve a minimum but decent standard of living, families need more than material resources; they also need “human and social capital.” Human and social capital include education, basic life skills, and employment experience, as well as less tangible resources such as social networks and access to civic institutions. These non-material resources provide families with the means to get by, and ultimately, to get ahead. Human and social capital help families improve their earnings potential and accumulate assets, gain access to safe neighborhoods and high-quality services (such as medical care, schooling), and expand their networks and social connections.

The experiences of children and families who face economic hardship are far from uniform. Some families experience hard times for brief spells while a small minority experience chronic poverty. For some, the greatest challenge is inadequate financial resources, whether insufficient income to meet daily expenses or the necessary assets (savings, a home) to get ahead. For others, economic hardship is compounded by social isolation. These differences in the severity and depth of poverty matter, especially when it comes to the effects on children.

2. How is poverty measured in the United States?

The U.S. government measures poverty by a narrow income standard — this measure does not include material hardship (such as living in substandard housing) or debt, nor does it consider financial assets (such as savings or property). Developed more than 40 years ago, the official poverty measure is a specific dollar amount that varies by family size but is the same across the continental U.S..

research questions about poverty and education

According to the federal poverty guidelines, the poverty level is $22,050 for a family of four and $18,310 for a family of three (see table). (The poverty guidelines are used to determine eligibility for public programs. A similar but more complicated measure is used for calculating poverty rates.)

The current poverty measure was established in the 1960s and is now widely acknowledged to be outdated. It was based on research indicating that families spent about one-third of their incomes on food — the official poverty level was set by multiplying food costs by three. Since then, the same figures have been updated annually for inflation but have otherwise remained unchanged.

Yet food now comprises only one-seventh of an average family’s expenses, while the costs of housing, child care, health care, and transportation have grown disproportionately. Most analysts agree that today’s poverty thresholds are too low. And although there is no consensus about what constitutes a minimum but decent standard of living in the U.S., research consistently shows that, on average, families need an income of about twice the federal poverty level to meet their most basic needs.

Failure to update the federal poverty level for changes in the cost of living means that people who are considered poor today by the official standard are worse off relative to everyone else than people considered poor when the poverty measure was established. The current federal poverty measure equals about 31 percent of median household income, whereas in the 1960s, the poverty level was nearly 50 percent of the median.

The European Union and most advanced industrialized countries measure poverty quite differently from the U.S. Rather than setting minimum income thresholds below which individuals and families are considered to be poor, other countries measure economic disadvantage relative to the citizenry as a whole, for example, having income below 50 percent of median.

3. Are Americans who experience poverty now better off than a generation ago?

Material deprivation is not as widespread in the United States as it was 30 or 40 years ago. For example, few Americans experience severe or chronic hunger, due in large part to public food and nutrition programs, such as food stamps, school breakfast and lunch programs, and WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children). Over time, Social Security greatly reduced poverty and economic insecurity among the elderly. Increased wealth and technological advances have made it possible for ordinary families to have larger houses, computers, televisions, multiple cars, stereo equipment, air conditioning, and cell phones.

Some people question whether a family that has air conditioning or a DVD player should be considered poor. But in a wealthy nation such as the US, cars, computers, TVs, and other technologies are considered by most to be a normal part of mainstream American life rather than luxuries. Most workers need a car to get to work. TVs and other forms of entertainment link people to mainstream culture. And having a computer with access to the internet is crucial for children to keep up with their peers in school. Even air conditioning does more than provide comfort — in hot weather, it increases children’s concentration in school and improves the health of children, the elderly, and the chronically ill.

Consider as well the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. Prior to the hurricane, New Orleans had one of the highest child poverty rates in the country — 38 percent (and this figure would be much higher if it included families with incomes up to twice the official poverty level). One in five households in New Orleans lacked a car, and eight percent had no phone service. The pervasive social and economic isolation increased the loss of life from the hurricane and exacerbated the devastating effects on displaced families and children.

Focusing solely on the material possessions a family has ignores the other types of resources they need to provide a decent life for their children — a home in a safe neighborhood; access to good schools, good jobs and basic services; and less tangible resources such as basic life skills and support networks.

4. How accurate are commonly held stereotypes about poverty?

The most commonly held stereotypes about poverty are false. Family poverty in the U.S. is typically depicted as a static, entrenched condition, characterized by large numbers of children, chronic unemployment, drugs, violence, and family turmoil. But the realities of poverty and economic hardship are very different.

Americans often talk about “poor people” as if they are a distinct group with uniform characteristics and somehow unlike the rest of “us.” In fact, there is great diversity among children and families who experience economic hardship. Research shows that many stereotypes just aren’t accurate: a study of children born between 1970 and 1990 showed that 35 percent experienced poverty at some point during their childhood; only a small minority experienced persistent and chronic poverty. And more than 90 percent of low-income single mothers have only one, two, or three children.

Although most portrayals of poverty in the media and elsewhere reflect the experience of only a few, a significant portion of families in America have experienced economic hardship, even if it is not life-long. Americans need new ways of thinking about poverty that allow us to understand the full range of economic hardship and insecurity in our country. In addition to the millions of families who struggle to make ends meet, millions of others are merely one crisis — a job loss, health emergency, or divorce — away from financial devastation, particularly in this fragile economy. A recent study showed that the majority of American families with children have very little savings to rely on during times of crisis. Recently, more and more families have become vulnerable to economic hardship.

5. How many children in the US live in families with low incomes?

Given that official poverty statistics are deeply flawed, the National Center for Children in Poverty uses “low income” as one measure of economic hardship. Low income is defined as having income below twice the federal poverty level — the amount of income that research suggests is needed on average for families to meet their basic needs. About 41 percent of the nation’s children — nearly 30 million in 2008 — live in families with low incomes, that is, incomes below twice the official poverty level (for 2009, about $44,000 for a family of four).

Although families with incomes between 100 and 200 percent of the poverty level are not officially classified as poor, many face material hardships and financial pressures similar to families with incomes below the poverty level. Missed rent payments, utility shut offs, inadequate access to health care, unstable child care arrangements, and running out of food are not uncommon for such families.

Low-income rates for young children are higher than those for older children — 44 percent of children under age six live in low-income families, compared to 39 percent of children over age six. Parents of younger children tend to be younger and to have less education and work experience than parents of older children, so their earnings are typically lower.

6. Are some children and families at greater risk for economic hardship than others?

Low levels of parental education are a primary risk factor for being low income. Eighty-three percent of children whose parents have less than a high school diploma live in low-income families, and over half of children whose parents have only a high school degree are low income as well. Workers with only a high school degree have seen their wages stagnate or decline in recent decades while the income gap between those who have a college degree and those who do not has doubled. Yet only 27 percent of workers in the U.S. have a college degree.

Single-parent families are at greater risk of economic hardship than two-parent families, largely because the latter have twice the earnings potential. But research indicates that marriage does not guarantee protection from economic insecurity. More than one in four children with married parents lives in a low-income family. In rural and suburban areas, the majority of low-income children have married parents. And among Latinos, more than half of children with married parents are low income. Moreover, most individuals who experience poverty as adults grew up in married-parent households.

Although low-income rates for minority children are considerably higher than those for white children, this is due largely to a higher prevalence of other risk factors, for example, higher rates of single parenthood and lower levels of parental education and earnings. About 61 percent of black, 62 percent of Latino children and 57 percent of American Indian children live in low-income families, compared to about 27 percent of white children and 31 percent of Asian children. At the same time, however, whites comprise the largest group of low-income children: 11 million white children live in families with incomes below twice the federal poverty line.

Having immigrant parents also increases a child’s chances of living in a low-income family. More than 20 percent of this country’s children — about 16 million — have at least one foreign-born parent. Sixty percent of children whose parents are immigrants are low-income, compared to 37 percent of children whose parents were born in the U.S.

7. What are the effects of economic hardship on children?

Economic hardship and other types of deprivation can have profound effects on children’s development and their prospects for the future — and therefore on the nation as a whole. Low family income can impede children’s cognitive development and their ability to learn. It can contribute to behavioral, social, and emotional problems. And it can cause and exacerbate poor child health as well. The children at greatest risk are those who experience economic hardship when they are young and children who experience severe and chronic hardship.

It is not simply the amount of income that matters for children. The instability and unpredictability of low-wage work can lead to fluctuating family incomes. Children whose families are in volatile or deteriorating financial circumstances are more likely to experience negative effects than children whose families are in stable economic situations.

The negative effects on young children living in low income families are troubling in their own right. These effects are also cause for concern because they are associated with difficulties later in life — dropping out of school, poor adolescent and adult health, poor employment outcomes and experiencing poverty as adults. Stable, nurturing, and enriching environments in the early years help create a sturdy foundation for later school achievement, economic productivity, and responsible citizenship.

Parents need financial resources as well as human and social capital (basic life skills, education, social networks) to provide the experiences, resources, and services that are essential for children to thrive and to grow into healthy, productive adults — high-quality health care, adequate housing, stimulating early learning programs, good schools, money for books, and other enriching activities. Parents who face chronic economic hardship are much more likely than their more affluent peers to experience severe stress and depression — both of which are linked to poor social and emotional outcomes for children.

Is it Possible to Reduce Economic Hardship for American Families?

8. why is there so much economic hardship in a country as wealthy as the u.s..

Given its wealth, the U.S. had unusually high rates of child poverty and income inequality, even prior to the current economic downturn. These conditions are not inevitable — they are a function both of the economy and government policy. In the late 1990s, for example, there was a dramatic decline in low-income rates, especially among the least well off families. The economy was strong and federal policy supports for low-wage workers with children — the Earned Income Tax Credit, public health insurance for children, and child care subsidies — were greatly expanded. In the current economic downturn, it is expected that the number of poor children will increase by millions.

Other industrialized nations have lower poverty rates because they seek to prevent hardship by providing assistance to all families. These supports include “child allowances” (typically cash supplements), child care assistance, health coverage, paid family leave, and other supports that help offset the cost of raising children.

But the U.S. takes a different policy approach. Our nation does little to assist low-income working families unless they hit rock bottom. And then, such families are eligible only for means-tested benefits that tend to be highly stigmatized; most families who need help receive little or none. (One notable exception is the federal Earned Income Tax Credit.)

At the same time, middle- and especially upper-income families receive numerous government benefits that help them maintain and improve their standard of living — benefits that are largely unavailable to lower-income families. These include tax-subsidized benefits provided by employers (such as health insurance and retirement accounts), tax breaks for home owners (such as deductions for mortgage interest and tax exclusions for profits from home sales), and other tax preferences that privilege assets over income. Although most people don’t think of these tax breaks as government “benefits,” they cost the federal treasury nearly three times as much as benefits that go to low- to moderate-income families. In addition, middle- and upper-income families reap the majority of benefits from the child tax credit and the child care and dependent tax credit because neither is fully refundable.

In short, high rates of child poverty and income inequality in the U.S. can be reduced, but effective, widespread, and long-lasting change will require shifts in both national policy and the economy.

9. Why should Americans care about family economic hardship?

In addition to the harmful consequences for children, high rates of economic hardship exact a serious toll on the U.S. economy. Economists estimate that child poverty costs the U.S. $500 billion a year in lost productivity in the labor force and spending on health care and the criminal justice system. Each year, child poverty reduces productivity and economic output by about 1.3 percent of GDP.

The experience of severe or chronic economic hardship limits children’s potential and hinders our nation’s ability to compete in the global economy. American students, on average, rank behind students in other industrialized nations, particularly in their understanding of math and science. Analysts warn that America’s ability to compete globally will be severely hindered if many of our children are not as academically prepared as their peers in other nations.

Long-term economic trends are also troubling as they reflect the gradual but steady growth of economic insecurity among middle-income and working families over the last 30 years. Incomes have increased very modestly for all but the highest earners. Stagnant incomes combined with the high cost of basic necessities have made it difficult for families to save, and many middle- and low-income families alike have taken on crippling amounts of debt just to get by.

Research also indicates that economic inequality in America has been on the rise since the 1970s. Income inequality has reached historic levels — the income share of the top one percent of earners is at its highest level since 1929. Between 1979 and 2006, real after-tax incomes rose by 256 percent for the top one percent of households, compared to 21 percent and 11 percent for households in the middle and bottom fifth (respectively).

Economic mobility—the likelihood of moving from one income group to another—is on the decline in the U.S. Although Americans like to believe that opportunity is equally available to all, some groups find it harder to get ahead than others. Striving African American families have found upward mobility especially difficult to achieve and are far more vulnerable than whites to downward mobility. The wealth gap between blacks and whites — black families have been found to have one-tenth the net worth of white families — is largely responsible.

What all of these trends reveal is that the American Dream is increasingly out of reach for many families. The promise that hard work and determination will be rewarded has become an increasingly empty promise in 21st century America. It is in the best interest of our nation to see that the American Dream, an ideal so fundamental to our collective identity, be restored.

10. What can be done to increase economic security for America’s children and families?

A considerable amount of research has been devoted to this question. We know what families need to succeed economically, what parents need to care for and nurture their children, and what children need to develop into healthy, productive adults. The challenge is to translate this research knowledge into workable policy solutions that are appropriate for the US.

For families to succeed economically, we need an economy that works for all — one that provides workers with sufficient earnings to provide for a family. Specific policy strategies include strengthening the bargaining power of workers, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, and increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. We also need to help workers get the training and education they need to succeed in a changing workforce. Dealing with low wages is necessary but not sufficient. Low- and middle-income families alike need relief from the high costs of health insurance and housing. Further programs that promote asset building among low-income families with children are also important.

As a nation, we also need to make it possible for adults to be both good workers and good parents, which requires greater workplace flexibility and paid time off. Workers need paid sick time, and parents need time off to tend to a sick child or talk to a child’s teacher. Currently, three in four low-wage workers have no paid sick days.

Despite the fact that a child’s earliest years have a profound effect on his or her life trajectory and ultimate ability to succeed, the U.S. remains one of the only industrialized countries that does not provide paid family leave for parents with a new baby. Likewise, child care is largely private in the U.S. — individual parents are left to find individual solutions to a problem faced by all working parents. Low- and middle-income families need more help paying for child care and more assistance in identifying reliable, nurturing care for their children, especially infants and toddlers.

These are only some of the policies needed to reduce economic hardship, strengthen families, and provide a brighter future for today’s — and tomorrow’s — children. With the right leadership, a strong national commitment, and good policy, it’s all possible.

NWEA Research

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Exploring the relationship between poverty and school performance

September 2019

Education Dive

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In this interview, Andrew Hegedus shares the origins of his work exploring the relationship between poverty and school performance, implications for educators, and where his research is headed next.

Topics: Equity , High-growth schools & practices

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The transformative power of education in the fight against poverty

October 16, 2023.

Zubair Junjunia, a Generation17 young leader and the Founder of ZNotes, presents at EdTechX.

Zubair Junjunia

Generation17 Young Leader and founder of ZNotes

Time and again, research has proven the incredible power of education to break poverty cycles and economically empower individuals from the most marginalized communities with dignified work and upward social mobility.

Research at UNESCO has shown that world poverty would be more than halved if all adults completed secondary school. And if all students in low-income countries had just basic reading skills, almost 171 million people could escape extreme poverty.

With such irrefutable evidence, how do we continue to see education underfunded globally? Funding for education as a share of national income has not changed significantly over the last decade for any developing country. And to exacerbate that, the COVID-19 shock pushed the level of learning poverty to an estimated 70 percent .

I have devoted the past decade of my life to fighting educational inequality, a journey that began during my school years. This commitment led to the creation of ZNotes , an educational platform developed for students, by students. ZNotes was born out of the problem I witnessed first-hand; the inequities in end-of-school examination, which significantly influence access to higher education and career opportunities. It is designed as a platform where students can share their notes and access top-quality educational materials without any limitations. ZNotes fosters collaborative learning through student-created content within a global community and levels the academic playing field with a student-empowered and technology-enabled approach to content creation and peer learning.

Although I started ZNotes as a solo project, today, it has touched the lives of over 4.5 million students worldwide, receiving an impressive 32 million hits from students across more than 190 countries, especially serving students from emerging economies. We’re proud to say that today, more than 90 percent of students find ZNotes resources useful and feel more confident entering exams , regardless of their socio-economic background. These globally recognized qualifications empower our learners to access tertiary education and enter the world of work.

Sixteen-year-old Zubair set up a blog to share the resources he created for his IGCSE exams. Through word of mouth, his revision notes were discovered by students all over the world and ZNotes was born.

In rapidly changing job market, young people must cultivate resilience and adaptability. World Economic Forum highlights the importance of future skills, encompassing technical, cognitive, and interpersonal abilities. Unfortunately, many educational systems, especially in under-resourced regions, fall short in equipping youth with these vital skills.

To address this challenge, I see innovative technology as a crucial tool both within and beyond traditional school systems. As the digital divide narrows and access to devices and internet connectivity becomes more affordable, delivering quality education and personalized support is increasingly achievable through technology. At ZNotes, we are reshaping the role of students, transforming them from passive consumers to active creators and proponents of education. Empowering youth through a community-driven approach, students engage in peer learning and generate quality resources on an online platform.

Participation in a global learning community enhances young people's communication and collaboration skills. ZNotes fosters a sense of global citizenship, enabling learners to communicate with a diverse range of individuals across race, gender, and religion. Such spaces also result in redistributing social capital as students share advice for future university, internship and career pathways.

“Studying for 14 IGCSE subjects wasn't easy, but ZNotes helped me provide excellent and relevant revision material for all of them. I ended up with 7 A* 7 A, and ZNotes played a huge role. I am off to Cornell University this fall now. A big thank you to the ZNotes team!"

Alongside ensuring our beneficiaries are equipped with the resources and support they need to be at a level playing field for such high stakes exams, we also consider the skills that will set them up for success in life beyond academics. Especially for the hundreds of young people who join our internship and contribution programs , they become part of a global social impact startup and develop both academic skills and also employability skills. After engaging with our internship programs, 77% of interns reported improved candidacy for new jobs and internships.

ZNotes addresses the uneven playing field of standardized testing with a student-empowered and technology-enabled approach for content creation and peer learning.

A few years ago, Jess joined our team as a Social Impact Analyst intern having just completed her university degree while she continued to search for a full-time role. She was able to apply her data analytics skills from a theoretical degree into a real-world scenario and was empowered to play an instrumental role in understanding and developing a Theory of Change model for ZNotes. In just 6 months, she had been able to develop the skills and gain experiences that strengthened her profile. At the end of internship, she was offered a full-time role at a major news and media agency that she is continuing to grow in!

Jess’s example applies to almost every one of our interns . As another one of them, Alexa, said “ZNotes offers the rare and wonderful opportunity to be at the center of meaningful change”.

Being part of an organization making a significant impact is profoundly inspiring and empowering for young people, and assuming high-responsibility roles within such organizations accelerates their skills development and sets them apart in the eyes of prospective employers.

On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, it is a critical moment to reflect and enact on the opportunity that we have to achieving two key SDGs, Goal 1 and 4, by effectively funding and enabling access to quality education globally.

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The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Poverty

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20 Education

Emily Hannum, Associate Professor of Sociology and Education, University of Pennsylvania.

Yu Xie, Bert G. Kerstetter ‘66 University Professor of Sociology and the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) and Director of the Center on Contemporary China, Princeton University.

Published: 05 April 2017
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This article explores the correlation between poverty and education. Poverty has been a core concept of interest in research on educational inequality. However, the conceptualization of poverty in empirical educational research does not always, or even usually, conform to definitions and measures that are prevalent in the poverty literature. To further complicate matters, the educational literature subscribes to no uniform set of alternative conceptualizations. This article begins with a discussion of three important functions of education in almost every modern society: imparting knowledge, socializing children, and transmitting family advantage or disadvantage. It then considers the impact of poverty on education at the national level and how education is affected by community and neighborhood poverty as well as household poverty. It concludes with an assessment of the impact of education on poverty.

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Research Areas

Poverty & Inequality
Federal & State Education Policy
Teaching & Leadership Effectiveness
Technological Innovations in Education
Poverty and Inequality

Research has shown that inequality still features prominently in the US educational system and that racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps have significant long-term effects for disadvantaged students. Reducing educational inequality is a priority for educators, administrators, and policymakers. CEPA provides empirical research that explores a variety of issues relating to poverty and inequality in education. Topics of focus include the effects that income disparity, race, gender, family backgrounds, and other factors can have on educational outcomes as well as the causes, patterns, and effects of poverty and inequality.

Kaylee T. Matheny

Marissa E. Thompson

Carrie Townley-Flores

sean f. reardon

Mark Murphy

Angela Johnson

Sean F. Reardon

Ericka Weathers

Heewon Jang

Demetra Kalogrides

Eric P. Bettinger

Gregory S. Kienzl

Josh Leung-Gagne

Jessica Drescher

Anne Podolsky

Gabrielle Torrance

Francis A. Pearman, II

Danielle Marie Greene

Sade Bonilla

Thomas S. Dee

Emily K. Penner

Dominique J. Baker

Bethany Edwards

Spencer F. X. Lambert

Grace Randall

Emily Morton

Tolani Britton

Eleonora Bertoni

Gregory Elacqua

Luana Marotta

Matías Martinez

Humberto Santos

Sammara Soares

Jaymes Pyne

Erica Messner

Elise Dizon-Ross

Qiang Zheng

Prashant Loyalka

Sean Sylvia

Yaojiang Shi

Sarah-Eve Dill

Scott Rozelle

Benjamin R. Shear

Francis A. Pearman

John P. Papay

Tara Kilbride

Katharine O. Strunk

Joshua Cowen

Kate Donohue

F. Chris Curran

Benjamin W. Fisher

Joseph H. Gardella

Emily Penner

The Impact of Education and Culture on Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Panel Data of European Countries

1 Department of Economics, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy

2 Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale Delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy

The 2030 Agenda has among its key objectives the poverty eradication through increasing the level of education. A good level of education and investment in culture of a country is in fact necessary to guarantee a sustainable economy, in which coexists satisfactory levels of quality of life and an equitable distribution of income. There is a lack of studies in particular on the relations between some significant dimensions, such as education, culture and poverty, considering time lags for the measurement of impacts. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap by focusing on the relationship between education, culture and poverty based on a panel of data from 34 European countries, over a 5-year period, 2015–2019. For this purpose, after applying principal component analysis to avoid multicollinearity problems, the authors applied three different approaches: pooled-ordinary least squares model, fixed effect model and random effect model. Fixed-effects estimator was selected as the optimal and most appropriate model. The results highlight that increasing education and culture levels in these countries reduce poverty. This opens space to new research paths and policy strategies that can start from this connection to implement concrete actions aimed at widening and improving educational and cultural offer.

Introduction

Poverty eradication has been the key objective for spans in many countries since that has been recognized as the greatest hostile issues ‘jeopardising balanced society socio-economic development’ (Balvociute, 2020 ). Poverty can be considered one of the core features of unsustainable socio-economic development and as a persistent phenomenon that can have upsetting effect on peoples’ lives (Bossert et al., 2022 ). For this reason, the extreme poverty removal, as well as the fight against inequalities and injustices, have been placed at the center, with climate change, of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The nature of poverty is multidimensional and inequalities within and among countries is an obstinate origin for concern (Fund, 2015 ; Alvaredo et al., 2017 ; Alkire & Seth, 2015 ; Kwadzo, 2015 ). For its interpretation and measurement, the literature has added to the monetary approach of material deprivation, the social and subjective dimension of the human being (Bellani & D’Ambrosio, 2014 ; Maggino, 2015 ). As stated by Kwadzo ( 2015 ), it is possible to define three poverty measurements: monetary poverty, social exclusion, and capability poverty. Similarly, there are a lot of indicators measuring well-being and quality of life: Index of Happiness, Human Poverty Index and Human Development Index (Senasu et al., 2019 ; Spada et al., 2020 ; UNDP, 1990 ; Veenhoven, 2012 ; Watkins, 2007 ). All these indicators focus and start from education. For example, the Human Poverty Index (HPI) was introduced by the United Nations to complement the Human Development Index (HDI) and used, for the first time, in the 1997 Human Development Report. In 2010, it was replaced by the Multidimensional Poverty Index. The HPI focuses on the deprivation of three essential parameters of human life, already taken into account by the Human Development Index: life expectancy, education and standard of living (Alkire et al., 2015 ; UNDP, 1990 ).

Previous studies shown that education indicators have a large impact on a country’s poverty (Bakhtiari & Meisami, 2010 ; UNDP, 1990 ; Watkins, 2007 ) and that investing in health and education is a way to reduce income inequality and poverty. In addition, studies highlight that increasing equality and the quality of education is essential to combat economic and gender inequality within society (Walker et al., 2019 ). However, few studies provide empirical evidence on how education impacts on income inequality (Liu et al., 2021 ; Santos, 2011 ; Walker et al., 2019 ) and most of these studies analyses the poverty phenomenon neglecting the combined effect of various variables. Different dimensions of poverty have also empirically demonstrated a high degree of correlation (Kwadzo, 2015 ). In addition, the literature review analysis highlighted a gap in quantitative studies, especially on the paths between some relevant dimensions, such as education, culture and poverty, considering time lags for the measurement of impacts. In light of this, the main objectives of this study are: (i) To identify over the five-year period considered (2015–2019), with what delay and with what magnitude and sign, the poverty is influenced by some indicators representative of the educational and cultural dimension; and (ii) Consequently, better calibrate education policies in European countries, in order to achieve a reduction in the poverty rate in the short term, in compliance with the objectives of the 2030 Agenda.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. A literature review regarding the relation between poverty, education and inequalities is presented in Sect. 2 . The Sect. 3 enlightens research gaps linked to the aims of this study and hypothesis to corroborate. Section 4 defines data and summarizes the methodological approach used to reach the work’s aims. Results are presented and discussed in Sect. 5 . Finally, the last section sets out our main conclusions by highlighting limitations of the study and future directions.

Theoretical Framework

The core role of education.

Over the last decades it is possible to individuate in the EU-28 a quickly growing portion of the population having income below 60% of the median disposable income. In addition, there is a share of the population has been becoming more impoverished (Balvociute, 2020 ; EUROSTAT Statistic Explained, 2019 ). In same way, it is possible to speak about “poverty trap”, a mechanisms whereby countries are poor and persist poor: existing poverty appears a straight cause of poverty in the future (Knight et al., 2009 ; Kraay & McKenzie, 2014 ). Aspects such as accommodation, education, medical and material services are considered essential. In particular, an increasing number of empirical studies have supported the positive effects of education on the creation of wealth by individuals and on promoting economic effective and fair development (UNESCO & Global Education Monitoring Report, 2017 ; Walker et al., 2019 ; Xu, 2016 ; Zhang, 2020 ). A research note by European Commission ( 2015 ) shows that individuals with primary education remain the most vulnerable in all EU countries (with a risk of poverty ranging from 13%—Netherlands—to 56% Romania). Even the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) endorsed by the World Bank and ‘Education for All’ program (UNESCO, 2007 ) emphases the significant role of education (Awan et al., 2011 ). A diverse balance can be possible and policy efforts to interrupt the poverty trap might have long-term effects. In this framework, the model proposed by Santos ( 2011 ) shows that a policy oriented towards aligning the quality of education would reduce initial inequalities. In light of this, Shi & Qamruzzaman, ( 2022 ) in a recent work, study, by means of numerous econometrical methods, the tie between investments in education, financial inclusion, and poverty decrease for the period 1995–2018 in 68 nations, underlining the role of education-backed poverty mitigation public policies that need to be more targeted. Several studies demonstrate that level of poverty and education are strictly related. For instance, Bossert et al. ( 2022 ) by focusing on Atkinson-Kolm-Sen index, that measures the percentage income gap of the poor that can be attributed to inequality among the poor (Sen, 1973 , 1976 ), emphasized the close relation between poverty and inequality. Consistent with previous studies, Lenzi and Perruca ( 2022 ) demonstrate that tertiary educated people report higher ranks of life satisfaction. This link is even more marked in rural territories where education is recognised as an important tool for reducing poverty as it allows the acquisition of skills and productive knowledges which increase people’s productivity and their earnings (Tilak, 2002 ). A recent report of the United Nations ( 2021 ) underlines how the reduced access to educational and health services in rural areas becomes a barrier, determining the difficulty of people living in these areas to found employment in well-paid professions contributing to economic growth (Chmelewska and Zegar, 2018 ). However, as Liu and colleagues ( 2021 ) find, different levels of education have distinct effects on poverty in rural areas of China and that the latter is driven not only by factors within the region but also by the level of poverty in the surrounding regions. In addition, numerous empirical evidences reveal a link between educational level and income inequalities in several geopolitical contexts. Bakhtiari and Meisami ( 2010 ), in a work of over 10 years ago, makes use of a panel data set of 37 Islamic countries (eight time periods) to study income inequality along with a model of poverty, with the main variables as income level, health status, education and savings. Findings show that enhancing the health and education can reduce income inequality and poverty. Likewise, as Arafat and Khan ( 2022 ) underline the high level of education not only contributes to reducing the degree of poverty but improves the conditions of mental, social and emotional well-being compared to poorly educated families. After about 10 years, similar works by Wani and Dhami ( 2021 ) and Sabir and Aziz ( 2018 ) reach the same results investigating the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries and 31 developing countries (by employing the System Generalized Method of Moments). In several cases, and especially in rural areas, poverty is linked to the lower level of household income compared to urban areas, resulting in differences in access to basic goods and services to meet personal needs (Chmelewska and Zegar, 2018 ). In this territories household income level is directly associated with food security, in fact, an increase in the level of income reduces food insecurity (Chegini et al., 2021 ). However, as evidenced by other authors (Kirkpatrick et al., 2020 ; Kusio & Fiore, 2022 ), access to education can help to overcome the migration of young people and geographical isolation and inaccessibility that characterize the poor areas (Kvedaraite et al., 2011 ). In turn, young, educated people affect entrepreneurial attitudes. Walker et al. ( 2019 ) in the recent report ‘ The Power of Education to Fight Inequality. How increasing educational equality and quality is crucial to fighting economic and gender inequality ’ show how education can be emancipating for individuals, and it can play the role of a ‘leveler and equalizer within society’. Education interrupts obstinate and rising inequality by promoting the development of more decent work, rising incomes for the poorest people: it can aid to endorse long-lasting, wide-ranging economic growth and social cohesion.

Gradstein and Justman ( 2002 ) underlined the role of education in shaping the social cohesion that can assure equality between individuals. Universal free education enhances people’s earning power, and can bring them out of poverty. Low levels of education hamper economic growth, which in turn slows down poverty reduction (UNESCO, 2017 ; Global Education Monitoring Report, 2019 ) estimates that each year of schooling raises earnings by around 10%;53 this figure is even higher for women. In Tanzania, having a secondary education reduces the chances of being poor as a working adult by almost 60%. According to a study by UNESCO and the Global Education Monitoring Report ( 2019 ), if all adults finished secondary school, 420 million individuals would be lifted out of poverty. The convergence of crises deriving first from COVID-19 then from climate change, and conflicts, are generating extra impacts above all on poverty, nutrition, health and education affecting all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Equilience, a synchratic neologism composed of Equity + Resilience, that is resilient systems in respect of equity as a balancing of the different interests of the parties. Recent research (Berbés-Blázquez et al., 2021 ; Williams et al., 2020 ; Contò and Fiore, 2020 ) highlight the crucial importance to promote the ‘marriage’ between equity and resilience.

Aims of Study and Hypothesis

This research is potentially the first study to investigate the relationship between educational, cultural factors and poverty in European countries.

The main research directions are as follows: (i) To assess the impact of education and culture (expressed by the following indicators: Cultural employment, Total educational expenditure, Graduates in tertiary education, Number of enterprises in the cultural sectors, Tertiary educational attainment ) upon poverty (indicated by Persons at risk of poverty or social ); (ii) To compare the strength and direction of the relationships between the variables considered in two temporal situations, i.e. with zero lag, and with lag equal to one year. The data cover the period 2015–2019 and were extracted from the Eurostat database.

In the light of the above discussion, of the literature review analysis, and of the theoretical frameworks examined this study explores the following research hypotheses with regard to the European context:

Education and culture have an inverse impact on the levels of poverty.

Our second hypothesis states:

The association between cultural, educational variables and poverty, in the short term is more intense if we consider a delay of one-year.

The dataset is a balanced panel of annual observations for 34 European countries and covers the period from 2015 to 2019. On the basis of literature findings, our analysis focused on the following dimensions: education, income inequality and poverty.

Thereby, the variables considered for our investigation are as follows:

Poverty indicator: Persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion (% of population, thousand persons; hereinafter labelled with PRP);
Education and cultural indicators: Cultural employment (thousand persons); Total educational expenditure (million euros); Graduates in tertiary education (‰ of population;); Number of enterprises in the cultural sectors (number) Tertiary educational attainment (‰ of population). Respectively, hereinafter they will be labelled with CE, TEE, GTE, NEC and TEA.

The indicators have been extracted from the Eurostat database. The summary statistics are reported in Table Table1. 1 . In the selected time period, Iceland is the country that shows the lowest values with respect PRP (12.08%). Instead, the country showing the worst performance is Romania (PRP = 41.60%). With regard to the education indicators, Germany holds the highest values for both CE (81,661.48 thousand persons) and TEE (30.588.86 million euros), highlighting great attention to education issues. Instead, in Eastern Europe (Montenegro, Romania, and Hungary) the indicators pertaining to the education area take on more penalized values. Italy is the country that boasts the largest number of enterprises in the cultural sector (NEC = 179,136.8), thanks also to the artistic beauties of which this country is rich. As far as the tertiary education level is concerned, the highest value of is held by Cyprus while the lowest by Romania (respectively TEA = 57.34 and TEA = 25.26). For subsequent processing, since the variables considered are both in the form of ratios and counts, all data were converted to natural logarithms.

Summary statistics for the Eurostat datasets, 2015–2019

Country	PRP (% of people)	CE (thousand persons)	TEE (million euros)	GTE (‰ of people)	NEC (number)	TEA(‰ population)
Country	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD
Austria	16.90 ± 0.27	174.32 ± 7.00	2,321.94 ± 349.82	22.44 ± 0.64	17,206,20 ± 756,05	40,14 ± 1,10
Belgium	21.26 ± 0.96	192.92 ± 12.66		13.88 ± 0.42	40,883,40 ± 1793,72	45,56 ± 1,88
Bulgaria	37.70 ± 4.60	85.64 ± 1.68	406.27 ± 34.87	14.08 ± 0.38	10,622,60 ± 298,85	32,94 ± 0,82
Croatia	22.90 ± 1.44	54.90 ± 4.40	366.78 ± 50.34	18.16 ± 1.22	7277,80 ± 1290,32	33,44 ± 2,00
Cyprus	20.90 ± 1.95	13.18 ± 0.81	103.86 ± 4.97	10.10 ± 0.10	2419,60 ± 246,29	57,34 ± 2,15
Czechia	12.28 ± 0.45	198.36 ± 9.17	1,019.77 ± 161.00	16.72 ± 0.43	49,046,75 ± 4227,15	32,66 ± 1,06
Denmark	17.74 ± 0.51	123.68 ± 2.37	3,888.45 ± 130.80	22.62 ± 1.41	13,342,40 ± 600,75	45,2 ± 1,52
Estonia	23.46 ± 0.25	35.00 ± 1.50	242.30 ± 0	16.08 ± 0.46	3538,40 ± 329,77	40,04 ± 1,17
Finland	16.28 ± 0.59	122.56 ± 6.58	2,703.90 ± 139.27	23.80 ± 0.90	10,190,00 ± 99,94	40,7 ± 0,75
France	18.34 ± 0.48	917.60 ± 45.72	16,419.90 ± 0	26.08 ± 1.05	162,416,80 ± 7866,12	45,74 ± 1,76
Germany	18.88 ± 1.09	1,661.48 ± 14.06	30,588.86 ± 3,489.47	21.10 ± 1.85	132,197,40 ± 3848,77	31,4 ± 1,46
Greece	31.30 ± 1.58	122.84 ± 8.41		17.38 ± 0.36	30,813,80 ± 1819,10	41,76 ± 1,16
Hungary	25.14 ± 4.73	154.76 ± 6.55	1,079.95 ± 151.82	12.28 ± 0.19	29,958,80 ± 3268,67	30,78 ± 0,76
Iceland	12.08 ± 0.64	11.46 ± 0.49	393.85 ± 0.21	16.60 ± 1.12	2483,75 ± 137,24	45,1 ± 3,22
Ireland	22.60 ± 2.03	77.22 ± 1.69	479.40 ± 190.51	33.04 ± 3.01	13,769,33 ± 257,36	54,92 ± 0,89
Italy	26.48 ± 1.57	808.94 ± 29.78	9,435.56 ± 753.67	14.74 ± 1.21	179,136,80 ± 3136,58	26,62 ± 1,17
Latvia	28.36 ± 1.17	35.82 ± 3.52	236.65 ± 15.64	13.22 ± 0.63	5022,80 ± 248,33	41,8 ± 1,39
Lithuania	28.64 ± 1.85	52.24 ± 2.78	397.98 ± 81.01	19.02 ± 0.82	11,739,60 ± 1246,77	55,22 ± 0,38
Luxembourg	19.40 ± 0.72	13.62 ± 1.12	302.20 ± 30.66	3.80 ± 0.23	1593,00 ± 29,94	52,58 ± 2,33
Malta	20.36 ± 1.21	10.82 ± 1.95	50.16 ± 5.91	13.18 ± 1.66	1696,67 ± 143,67	36,36 ± 3,82
Montenegro	41.38 ± 2.84	8.08 ± 0.90				35,04 ± 2,71
Netherlands	16.46 ± 0.11	397.92 ± 21.41	2,862.66 ± 195.29	12.80 ± 0.80	93,253,80 ± 10,543,68	46,72 ± 1,69
North Macedonia	37.36 ± 2.85	23.30 ± 1.56		7.68 ± 0.50	2150,40 ± 114,32	33,04 ± 1,91
Norway	15.18 ± 0.60	102.70 ± 1.31	5,908.90 ± 154.21	15.68 ± 1.17	18,001,20 ± 707,56	48,68 ± 0,40
Poland	19.58 ± 1.94	555.72 ± 21.88	3,961.14 ± 626.49	21.50 ± 1.30	80,647,80 ± 8488,26	43,46 ± 0,15
Portugal	23.48 ± 2.22	152.92 ± 10.54	1,137.20 ± 0	19.96 ± 1.00	33,220,00 ± 2113,49	34,92 ± 1,61
Romania	41.60 ± 4.03	135.52 ± 6.19	697.46 ± 150.94	15.56 ± 1.21	18,191,00 ± 2282,65	25,26 ± 0,38
Slovakia	16.06 ± 1.09	68.22 ± 6.15	520.13 ± 53.81	14.78 ± 1.47	13,580,60 ± 1419,18	35,24 ± 3,10
Slovenia	16.06 ± 1.56	44.84 ± 2.94	482.67 ± 19.66	22.82 ± 5.89	9332,80 ± 521,58	42,62 ± 1,79
Spain	27.70 ± 1.08	672.10 ± 38.32	9,303.50 ± 161.39	21.66 ± 0.55	127,827,00 ± 3452,69	43,08 ± 2,35
Sweden	17.84 ± 0.47	240.04 ± 7.50	8,791.07 ± 175.78	15.30 ± 0.37	52,449,80 ± 587,60	47,44 ± 0,68
Switzerland	18.10 ± 0.54	248.18 ± 2.89		20.84 ± 0.79		49,86 ± 2,36
Turkey	30.24 ± 3.30	637.76 ± 31.38	2,244.40 ± 647.71	12.48 ± 0.43		30,52 ± 2,86
United Kingdom	22.40 ± 0.65	1,476.72 ± 24.67	13,143.70 ± 0	24.04 ± 1.64	101,032,25 ± 2313,12	47,74 ± 1,04

Methodology

The methodological approach used is based on linear panel data models including the simple Pooled Ordinary Least Square (pooled OLS) model, the Fixed Effects (FE) model and the Random Effects (RE) model. Before proceeding with the application of the linear models, the correlation matrix between the variables taken into consideration was performed and subsequently, to avoid multicollinearity problems and distorted estimates, the study, based on the principal component analysis (PCA), used two indicators related to education and culture. According to Jolliffe and Cadima ( 2016 ), through PCA starting from a set of correlated variables, a set of uncorrelated variables is obtained, known as Principal Components (PC). In PCA, only common factors that have an eigenvalue greater than one or greater than the mean should be kept (Jolliffe, 2002 ; Kaiser, 1974 ). In this study PCA allowed to obtain the following indicators: EDU1, which includes CE, NEC, TEE, and EDU2, composed of TEA and GTE. These indicators have been incorporated into the panel data models, replacing the original variables.

The first linear panel data model adopted is the pooled OLS, which assumes no heterogeneity between countries, whose equation is as follows:

where ln PRP is the natural logarithm of the poverty indicator, α is the intercept, EDU is composed of the principal components extracted, ε is the error term, i denotes statistical units, in this case countries, and t denotes the time index.

The second model adopted is FE which controls for cross-country heterogeneity and is expressed as:

where α i is the regional specific parameter denoting the fixed effect. The basic intuition of the FE model is that α i does not change over time.

Finally, the third model is RE denoted as;

In the RE model, variations between units are assumed to be random and uncorrelated with the independent variables in the model.

To verify the two research hypotheses, for each of the three models (pooled OLS, FE and RE) two versions were calculated, with lag 0 and lag 1 year. In the model at lag 0 the variables are synchronous, while in the model at lag 1 principal components enter the equation with a one-year lag compared to PRP. The choice of the reference model between pooled OLS, FE and RE is based on several tests. In choosing between FE and pooled OLS, the study applies the F-test. A p-value of less than 5% indicates that there are important country effects that OLS fails to detect, and that thus neglecting unobserved heterogeneity in the model can lead to estimation errors and inconsistencies. The study also tests which is better between the OLS and RE model using the Breusch-Pagan (BP)-Langragian Multiplier (LM) test. The null hypothesis of the BP-LM test is that there is no substantial variance between regions. A probability value of less than 5% for the BP-LM test indicates that the RE model is appropriate and the OLS pool is not. Finally, the Hausman test χ 2 is also performed to compare the FE model and the RE model. According to Algieri and Mannarino ( 2013 ), the Hausman test χ 2 aims to identify a violation of the RE modelling hypothesis. In this test, the alternative hypothesis is that the FE model is preferable to the RE model, while the null hypothesis is that both models produce similar coefficients. A p-value greater than 5% denotes that both FE and RE are reliable, but the RE model is more efficient because it uses a lower degree of freedom. We also test for heteroskedasticity in the FE model using the modified Wald test developed by Lasker and King ( 1997 ). The null hypothesis of this test is that the variance of the error is similar for all countries (Amaz et al., 2012 ). All statistical analyses were conducted in Stata 17.0 (Stata Corp LP, College Station, Texas, USA). A critical value of p < 0.05 was specified a priori as the threshold of statistical significance for all analyses.

The relationships between the variables, measured by Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient, is shown in Table Table2. 2 . It is noted that the PRP variable is negatively correlated with all the other panel variables, albeit with modest correlations. Instead, TEE shows a high positive correlation with NEC ( r = 0.963 and r = 0.903, respectively). There is also a high correlation between NEC and TEE ( r = 0.857). Therefore, in the light of the results, to exclude the problem of multicollinearity between the covariates, we proceeded to analyse the principal components.

Pearson correlation coefficient

	PRP	CE	TEE	GTE	TEA	NEC
PRP	1.000
CE	− 0.116	1.000
TEE	− 0.169	0.903*	1.000
GTE	− 0.209*	0.474***	0.388***	1.000
TEA	− 0.384***	− 0.156*	− 0.198*	0.087	1.000
NEC	− 0.082	0.963***	0.857***	0.500*	− 0.166*	1.000

* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

Table Table3 3 shows the results of principal component analysis. On the basis of these results, the need to maintain the first two principal components is highlighted, since their eigenvalues are greater or very close to 1 and cumulatively represent the 84% of the information. They will be labelled as EDU1 and EDU2 respectively. EDU1 refers to TEE, CE and NEC, i.e. it refers to a cultural dimension of the country and therefore, even if not strictly connected to the school environment, with an important educational role, while the EDU2 component referring to GTE and TEA, is more closely related to the school.

Principal component analysis: factor loading, eigen value and variance explained

Variables	Comp1	Comp2	Comp3	Comp4	Comp5
TEE	0.5041	0.1435	0.3466	− 0.7374	− 0.2478
GTE	0.3329	0.4747	− 0.8123	− 0.0476	− 0.0423
CE	0.5433	− 0.0216	0.1581	0.1705	0.8064
NEC	0.5292	− 0.0120	0.2005	0.6316	− 0.5298
TEA	− 0.2446	0.8680	0.3936	0.1609	0.0768
Eigenvalue	3.27227	0.929618	0.647951	0.129206	0.0209512
Proportion	0.6545	0.1859	0.1296	0.0258	0.0042
Cumulative	0.6545	0.8404	0.9700	0.9958	1.0000

Table Table4 4 shows the results of the three econometric models (pooled OLS, FE, RE) on the link between education, culture and poverty. It is observed that all models converge in showing that poverty decreases with increasing education and culture. In particular, the EDU1 indicator always shows a negative coefficient, and this relationship is statistically significant in the model fixed at lag 0 and lag 1 (respectively b = − 0.3804, p < 0.001; b = − 0.3925, p < 0.001). Furthermore, for EDU1, in all three econometric models it can be noted that the coefficients are higher in absolute value passing from lag 0 to lag 1, highlighting that the impact between cultural and educational tools and poverty reduction occurs with a delay, perhaps necessary to have positive results. Also, the EDU2 indicator always shows a negative coefficient and this relationship is statistically significant in all three models, both at lag 0 and at lag 1 (for all p < 0.001). To discern the econometric model that best fits the data, as a first step the F-test allows you to choose between the OLS and FE models. The value F = 80.09 for lag 0 and F = 109.61for lag = 1, (for all p -value < 0.001), indicates in both cases that the FE model is more suitable than the pooled OLS. This demonstrates that in the relationships examined time plays an important role, which a simple OLS model may fail to capture, i.e. EDU1 and EDU2 have an effect on poverty decrease that changes over time. The choice between the RE model and the pooled OLS was instead based on the BP LM test, which suggests that the RE model is more suitable than the pooled OLS. Finally, the Hausman test χ 2 allows to identify which between FE and RE is more suitable: The value χ 2 = 15.95 at lag 0 and χ 2 = 13.40 at lag = 1, (for all p -value < 0.001) suggests that the FE model is more suitable than the RE model, indicating the presence of non-random differences between countries or over time. The model that best fits the examined panel of data is therefore the FE model.

Pooled OLS, Fixed Model, Random Model, at lag 0 and at lag 1

Variable	Model 1 (lag 0 year)			Model 2 (lag 1 year)
Variable	Pooled OLS	Fixed effect	Random Effect	Pooled OLS	Fixed effect	Random Effect

EDU1	− 0.004	− 0.380***	− 0.026	− 0.013	− 0.393***	− 0.032
EDU2	− 0.112***	− 0.141**	− 0.178***	− 0.105***	− 0.163**	− 0.168 ***
Constant	3.039***	3.039***	3.035***	3.026***	3.013***	3.041***
F-stat		20.98***			18.01***
F test		80.09***			109.61***
Wald	22.82		22.82***	20.14***		20.14***
Hausman test χ		15.95***			13.40***
BP-LM			129.21***			107.04***

** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

In light of these results, as supposed in hypothesis H 1 , it is evident that education and culture play a significant role in poverty reduction. Furthermore, as supposed by hypothesis H 2 and based on the FE model which was found to be the most suitable, this impact is more intense if one considers a year of delay, above all for cultural and educational variables relating to a dimension that is not strictly scholastic.

Discussions and Conclusions

The present study analysed the relationship between education, culture and poverty for 34 countries, over the period 2015–2019. The findings indicate that rising education and culture levels in these nations reduce poverty. The model also highlighted that this relationship is weaker if we consider a contemporaneity of the values of the variables (at lag 0), while it is strengthened if we consider a time interval of one year.

As policy-makers regularly disclose the consequences of unfair development by identifying problems requiring solutions built on evidence-based guidelines, these results can have interesting and fruitful implications. By concluding, education appears, in line with other studies (Sabir & Aziz, 2018 ; Xu, 2016 ), one of the best effective methods to eradicate poverty. In line with the work by Walker et al., ( 2019 ), investing in universal-free-public education for all the persons can close different circles: the gap between rich and poor people, between women and men, between poor and rich areas within a country and among countries. In addition, education appears crucial to fight inequalities across the world. The results appear also consistent with the UN report ( 2021 ) that emphasizes the importance of the access to educational and health services in marginal poor areas to improve and contribute equal economic growth and reduce poverty (Chmelewska and Zegar, 2018 ; Bakhtiari & Meisami, 2010 ; Wani & Dhami, 2021 ). The same findings come from the work by Peng ( 2019 ) based on data from poor Chinese provinces showing that education has steady and positive impacts on farmers’ income, and the outcome of growing income in poor zones is higher than in other areas.

All in all, as evidenced by the European Commission ( 2015 ), the means to diminish the risk of poverty appears ‘straight-forward: go to school, get a job’. Clearly, these implications have to consider conditions and country environment. In line with previous research (Noper Ardi & Isnayanti, 2020 ; Walker et al., 2019 ), these results highlight that education can have an immediate impact on income inequalities and poverty; on the other hand, education (and public spending on it) has a longer-term impact on inequality through its effects in enhancing future salaries and chances. Indeed, as stated by some notable researchers (Kraay & McKenzie, 2014 ), the ‘more-likely poverty traps’ need action in less-traditional policy areas. The scholars have to further perfect the theoretical concepts and policy standards of poverty alleviation through education (Shi & Qamruzzaman, 2022 ).

This paper reinforces the conclusions deriving from other research (Mou and Xu, 2020 ; Assari et al., 2018 ; Batool and Batool, 2018 ) that are to give evidence of how education can forecast coming ‘Emotional Well-Being’ thus decreasing the inequalities by means of more generous policies and strategies. The latter can support international experience-based education (Xu, 2016 ).

In the following research phases, other variables can be inserted to improve the specifications of the model and also verify the existence of homogeneous groups of countries. In addition, a distinction between urban and rural areas to highlight the link between income, education and poverty and differences could enrich the literature and provide useful information to guide national policies in a targeted way. Regarding possible limitations of the paper, it is possible to notice a time period limited for missing data and health variables are missing.

The ‘dark’ side of this conclusions is considering the effects of the COVID19 pandemic that has increased on one hand the online teaching and training: on the other hand, education has become more difficult in remote, rural and/or marginal areas due to connections and hardware limitations.

Therefore, nowadays strategies, models and polices focusing on equi-lience (equity and resilience) processes can promote the creation of a different balance between the needs of sustainable growth and those of social, fair and environmental development (Fiore, 2022 ). Therefore, developing a strategy to convey a trained, skilled and well-supported workforce, investing in relevant and fair teaching resources, ensuring funds and building better liability mechanisms from national to local levels can be significant and fair paths to reduce poverty and inequalities. These strategies have to be aimed at developing national education plans that try to identify pre-education existing inequalities in order to arrange actions in poorer rural and marginalized districts or regions.

Open access funding provided by Università di Foggia within the CRUI-CARE Agreement.

Declarations

Authors disclose financial or non-financial interests directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication.

Publisher's Note

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Poverty, place and pedagogy in education: research stories from front-line workers

Published: 10 August 2016
Volume 43 , pages 393–417, ( 2016 )

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Barbara Comber ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8364-1676 1 , 2

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This article considers what it means to teach and learn in places of poverty through the narratives of front-line workers—particularly students and teachers. What is the work of teaching and learning in places of poverty in current times? How has this changed? What can be learned from both the haunting and hopeful narratives of front-line workers? Is it possible to continue to educate in these times and in ways that allow for critique, imagination and optimism? These questions are addressed by drawing from studies conducted over three decades in schools located in high-poverty neighbourhoods. Literacy education is considered as a particular case. Educational researchers need to remain on the front line with teachers and students in places of poverty because that is where some of the hardest work gets done. Reinvigorated democratic research communities would include teachers, school leaders, policy workers and young people.

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Literacy Teacher Research in High-Poverty Schools: Why It Matters

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The project is entitled ‘Literacy and the imagination: Working with place and space as resources for children’s learning’ and in South Australia was undertaken by Barbara Comber, Helen Grant, Lyn Kerkham, Ruth Trimboli and Marg Wells. Annette Woods worked with a teacher-researcher in Brisbane.

Educational leadership and turnaround literacy pedagogies, an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project (No. LP120100714) between the University of South Australia and the South Australian Department for Education and Child Development (DECD). The project was under taken between 2012 and 2015. The chief investigators were Robert Hattam (University of South Australia), Barbara Comber (Queensland University of Technology), and Deb Hayes (University of Sydney). The research associate was Lyn Kerkham (University of South Australia).

Thanks to Deb Hayes for pointing out to me this connection which emerged through her research. Craig Campbell and Deb Hayes (University of Sydney) are writing a biography of Jean Blackburn (1919–2001), a significant contributor to educational policy, including the SA and national Karmel reports. She was an Australian Schools Commissioner from 1974 to 1980, and key architect of the Disadvantaged Schools Program.

I observed in this school over a period of 2 years, alongside my colleague, Lyn Kerkham. I thank her for sharing her fieldnotes and excerpts of the related video recorded transcript.

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Acknowledgments

Many projects have informed this address, in particular, Educational leadership and turnaround literacy pedagogies, an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project (No. LP120100714) between the University of South Australia and the South Australian Department for Education and Child Development (DECD). The project was under taken between 2012 and 2015. The chief investigators were Robert Hattam (University of South Australia), Barbara Comber (Queensland University of Technology) and Deb Hayes (University of Sydney). The research associate was Lyn Kerkham (University of South Australia). I thank colleagues and friends whose conversations contributed to these ideas, including Rob Hattam, Deb Hayes, Barbara Kamler, Lyn Kerkham, Val Klenowski, Helen Nixon and Annette Woods. I recognise that much of my work is contingent upon the willingness of teachers to have me in their classrooms and acknowledge long-term co-researchers and friends Helen Grant, Ruth Trimboli and Marg Wells. Finally, I thank the helpful critical feedback from the reviewers of this paper.

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Comber, B. Poverty, place and pedagogy in education: research stories from front-line workers. Aust. Educ. Res. 43 , 393–417 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-016-0212-9

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Accepted : 03 August 2016

Published : 10 August 2016

Issue Date : September 2016

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-016-0212-9

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4 replies on “A decade of research on the rich-poor divide in education”

At The Hechinger Report, we publish thoughtful letters from readers that contribute to the ongoing discussion about the education topics we cover. Please read our guidelines for more information. We will not consider letters that do not contain a full name and valid email address. You may submit news tips or ideas here without a full name, but not letters.

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Thanks to Jill Barshay for the excellent column reminding us that there is much more to the rich/poor divide in our public schools than just the availability of digital devices and wi-fi. The real problem with equity in education is the lack of equity in school funding, which is an issue both of inequity in society and the ways in which public schools are funded (i.e., primarily local tax revenues).

Other barriers that kept the “school door blocked” for many low income students during this season of remote learning — and, presumably, next school year, as well — include: 1. Some with access to devices and wi-fi have had service disconnected at times due to unpaid (unpayable) bills. 2. Many have no private space in their homes from where to participate in synchronous learning/Zoom calls 3. With loss of family income and no child care, some have work or baby-sitting responsibilities that interfere with participation 4. Deadening effects of online learning cause many low-income students to disconnect and/or “drop out”. 5. In ability to access teacher supports and specialized instruction, esp. for English language learners and children with special needs. 6. Parent inability to assist students with computer routines, glitches, log-ins, etc

As districts address equity in the coming school year, we must also address the modes of learning that we consider both effective and valuable. If the top priority is engaging all students we need high engagement models based in trauma-informed practices, social and racial justice curricula, service learning, interdisciplinary project- and place-based learning, outdoor learning and other innovative ways to make education relevant to all students, regardless of their zip codes. Relax the standards. Cancel high stakes testing. Trust teachers to use their creativity to connect with every student and family. Otherwise, “remote” or “hybrid” learning, regardless of the availability of technology, will only be widening the gaps that structural racism has already created.

Why are we NOT reaching out to the teaching programs started by Marva Collins in Chicago and Ron Clark in Atlanta? Why are we NOT looking at a book called Schools That Work and viewing the achievements and strategies followed by successful programs. Let’s follow successful schools, successful environments in urban, rural, and suburban locations. As an eductor who started teaching in the Ocean-Hill Brownsville area of Brooklyn, N,Y. in 1971, there was a wildcat strike happening and this area was the where decentralization took place in N.Y.C. Rev. Al Sharpton’s church was down the block from I.S. 271. It took 2 years before a no nonsense, BLACK principal, took control over the choas and the movement of 125 teachers going and then coming to this “high poverty” intermediate school. There was stability of staff and the message was, you’re here to learn. I taught there for 7 incredible years and grew to understand what it was like being a minority teacher and human being. I then moved to Columbia, MD. where I lived in a planned community where diversity of color, homes, religions and belief in humanity living together as ONE took place. I taught in a white disadvantaged area for 2 years and observed the same behaviors students exhibited except there was no leadership at the top of this school. Now I teach in a suburban area for the last 31 years with limited diversity and succeeds because of innovative leadership, extraordinary teachers, and pretty high achieving students. Yes, I know every students must have access to technology as a MUST. Yes, I know urban education, rural education, and suburban education do education diffferently. Yes, I know poverty sucks, and I know distant learning may be around for a while. Change must come from the top. Let’s follow the successful educators, the successful programs, the dynamic elected officials who can shake up things so our students, our kids, our educational systems can be the change that can bring poverty to it’s knees.

I live on Long Island and know that whatever is written here about us is true. The Freeport Public School waste millions of taxpayers dollars throwing out teaching equipment, devices books that could be just given to the less fortunate schools next door-Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx; where we see children suffering because of lack of proper learning tools. I am from the Caribbean where l taught for years. Oh l wish we were as privileged as these children. Maybe one day the disparity will end. Hopefully.

I enjoy reading this post. I am currently doing my thesis and the research question is: Do California K-12 public schools in lower-income communities offer the same level of academic curriculum as those in middle-income and wealthy communities? Do you have the reference page for those studies or even any peer reviewers where you got the information? I would like to review those studies and use them for my thesis. Thank you

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Poverty and Social Exclusion

Defining, measuring and tackling poverty, latest articles, home page featured articles, buenos aires 2017.

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A recent report form the city of Buenos Aires measuring multi-dimensional poverty, using the consensual method, has found that in 2019, 15.3% of households were multi-dimensionally poor, rising to 25.7% for households with children under 18 years of age. The method established will be used to measure nu,ti-dimensional poverty on an ongoing basis.

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100 questions about poverty

Progress in reducing or preventing poverty in the UK could be helped by the answers to 100 important research questions, according to a new report. The questions have been identified by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge, based on an exercise involving 45 participants from government, non-governmental organisations, academia and research. They cover a range of themes, and indicate areas of particular research interest.

Key questions include:

Attitudes towards poverty – To what extent does stigma contribute to the experience of living in poverty in the UK, and what can be done to address this?
Education and family – To what extent do families (including extended families) provide the first line of defence against individual poverty, and what are the limits and geographical variations of this support?
Employment – What explains variation in wages as a share of GDP internationally? What can countries do to combat low pay without causing unemployment in sectors that cannot move abroad?
Health, well-being and inclusion – What is the nature and extent of poverty among those who do not, or cannot, access the safety net when they need it? What are the health risks associated with poor-quality work (low paid, insecure, poorly regulated etc) for individuals or households in poverty?
Markets, service and the cost of living – What transport measures and interventions have the greatest negative/positive impact on poverty? What is the impact of up-front charging in public services on people in poverty?
Place and housing – What is the effect of housing-related welfare changes on people and places in poverty?
Tax, benefits and inequality – What would the impacts on poverty be of different models of more contributory benefit schemes? How can the effect on poverty of issues of diversity, such as ethnicity, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation or religion, be better understood and addressed? What relevance does inequality in the top half of the income distribution have for the reduction of poverty?
Policy, power and agency – What forms of institutional structures, processes and reforms enable people living in poverty to hold state and non-state actors to account?
The bigger picture – What are the most cost-effective interventions to prevent poverty over the life course? What differentiates the effects of poverty on men and women in terms of the impact on both their own quality of life and that of their families? Considering how much money has been spent on poverty alleviation, why has it not had more effect?

Source : William Sutherland et al., 100 Questions: Identifying Research Priorities for Poverty Prevention and Reduction , Joseph Rowntree Foundation Links : Report | JRF blog post

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Frequently Asked Questions

Faqs on poverty.

Mental health effects of poverty, hunger, and homelessness on children and teens

Rising inflation and an uncertain economy are deeply affecting the lives of millions of Americans, particularly those living in low-income communities. It may seem impossible for a family of four to survive on just over $27,000 per year or a single person on just over $15,000, but that’s what millions of people do everyday in the United States. Approximately 37.9 million Americans, or just under 12%, now live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau .

Additional data from the Bureau show that children are more likely to experience poverty than people over the age of 18. Approximately one in six kids, 16% of all children, live in families with incomes below the official poverty line.

Those who are poor face challenges beyond a lack of resources. They also experience mental and physical issues at a much higher rate than those living above the poverty line. Read on for a summary of the myriad effects of poverty, homelessness, and hunger on children and youth. And for more information on APA’s work on issues surrounding socioeconomic status, please see the Office of Socioeconomic Status .

Who is most affected?

Poverty rates are disproportionately higher among most non-White populations. Compared to 8.2% of White Americans living in poverty, 26.8% of American Indian and Alaska Natives, 19.5% of Blacks, 17% of Hispanics and 8.1% of Asians are currently living in poverty.

Similarly, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous children are overrepresented among children living below the poverty line. More specifically, 35.5% of Black people living in poverty in the U.S. are below the age of 18. In addition, 40.7% of Hispanic people living below the poverty line in the U.S. are younger than age 18, and 29.1% of American Indian and Native American children lived in poverty in 2018. In contrast, approximately 21% of White people living in poverty in the U.S. are less than 18 years old.

Furthermore, families with a female head of household are more than twice as likely to live in poverty compared to families with a male head of household. Twenty-three percent of female-headed households live in poverty compared to 11.4% of male-headed households, according to the U.S. Census Bureau .

What are the effects of poverty on children and teens?

The impact of poverty on young children is significant and long lasting. Poverty is associated with substandard housing, hunger, homelessness, inadequate childcare, unsafe neighborhoods, and under-resourced schools. In addition, low-income children are at greater risk than higher-income children for a range of cognitive, emotional, and health-related problems, including detrimental effects on executive functioning, below average academic achievement, poor social emotional functioning, developmental delays, behavioral problems, asthma, inadequate nutrition, low birth weight, and higher rates of pneumonia.

Psychological research also shows that living in poverty is associated with differences in structural and functional brain development in children and adolescents in areas related to cognitive processes that are critical for learning, communication, and academic achievement, including social emotional processing, memory, language, and executive functioning.

Children and families living in poverty often attend under-resourced, overcrowded schools that lack educational opportunities, books, supplies, and appropriate technology due to local funding policies. In addition, families living below the poverty line often live in school districts without adequate equal learning experiences for both gifted and special needs students with learning differences and where high school dropout rates are high .

What are the effects of hunger on children and teens?

One in eight U.S. households with children, approximately 12.5%, could not buy enough food for their families in 2021 , considerably higher than the rate for households without children (9.4%). Black (19.8%) and Latinx (16.25%) households are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity, with food insecurity rates in 2021 triple and double the rate of White households (7%), respectively.

Research has found that hunger and undernutrition can have a host of negative effects on child development. For example, maternal undernutrition during pregnancy increases the risk of negative birth outcomes, including premature birth, low birth weight, smaller head size, and lower brain weight. In addition, children experiencing hunger are at least twice as likely to report being in fair or poor health and at least 1.4 times more likely to have asthma, compared to food-secure children.

The first three years of a child’s life are a period of rapid brain development. Too little energy, protein and nutrients during this sensitive period can lead to lasting deficits in cognitive, social and emotional development . School-age children who experience severe hunger are at increased risk for poor mental health and lower academic performance , and often lag behind their peers in social and emotional skills .

What are the effects of homelessness on children and teens?

Approximately 1.2 million public school students experienced homelessness during the 2019-2020 school year, according to the National Center for Homeless Education (PDF, 1.4MB) . The report also found that students of color experienced homelessness at higher proportions than expected based on the overall number of students. Hispanic and Latino students accounted for 28% of the overall student body but 38% of students experiencing homelessness, while Black students accounted for 15% of the overall student body but 27% of students experiencing homelessness. While White students accounted for 46% of all students enrolled in public schools, they represented 26% of students experiencing homelessness.

Homelessness can have a tremendous impact on children, from their education, physical and mental health, sense of safety, and overall development. Children experiencing homelessness frequently need to worry about where they will live, their pets, their belongings, and other family members. In addition, homeless children are less likely to have adequate access to medical and dental care, and may be affected by a variety of health challenges due to inadequate nutrition and access to food, education interruptions, trauma, and disruption in family dynamics.

In terms of academic achievement, students experiencing homelessness are more than twice as likely to be chronically absent than non-homeless students , with greater rates among Black and Native American or Alaska Native students. They are also more likely to change schools multiple times and to be suspended—especially students of color.

Further, research shows that students reporting homelessness have higher rates of victimization, including increased odds of being sexually and physically victimized, and bullied. Student homelessness correlates with other problems, even when controlling for other risks. They experienced significantly greater odds of suicidality, substance abuse, alcohol abuse, risky sexual behavior, and poor grades in school.

What can you do to help children and families experiencing poverty, hunger, and homelessness?

There are many ways that you can help fight poverty in America. You can:

Volunteer your time with charities and organizations that provide assistance to low-income and homeless children and families.
Donate money, food, and clothing to homeless shelters and other charities in your community.
Donate school supplies and books to underresourced schools in your area.
Improve access to physical, mental, and behavioral health care for low-income Americans by eliminating barriers such as limitations in health care coverage.
Create a “safety net” for children and families that provides real protection against the harmful effects of economic insecurity.
Increase the minimum wage, affordable housing and job skills training for low-income and homeless Americans.
Intervene in early childhood to support the health and educational development of low-income children.
Provide support for low-income and food insecure children such as Head Start , the National School Lunch Program , and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) .
Increase resources for public education and access to higher education.
Support research on poverty and its relationship to health, education, and well-being.
Resolution on Poverty and SES
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100 Questions: identifying research priorities for poverty prevention and reduction

Reducing poverty is important for those affected, for society and the economy. Poverty remains entrenched in the UK, despite considerable research efforts to understand its causes and possible solutions. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, with the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge, ran a democratic, transparent, consensual exercise involving 45 participants from government, non-governmental organisations, academia and research to identify 100 important research questions that, if answered, would help to reduce or prevent poverty. The list includes questions across a number of important themes, including attitudes, education, family, employment, heath, wellbeing, inclusion, markets, housing, taxes, inequality and power.

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New ipr research: september 2024, get all our news.

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This month’s new research from our faculty experts investigates how a family-centered education program in Tulsa supports student parents, visibility and wellbeing in the bi+ community, perceptions of a living wage, and how parent-child discussions can help address subtle racism.

Education and Human Development

A Family-Centered Approach to Helping Student Parents Succeed in Higher Education

Approximately four million people juggle parenthood and college in the United States. How can a family-centered education program in Tulsa support these student parents? IPR faculty researchers Lauren Tighe , Teresa Eckrich Sommer , Terri Sabol , and Lindsay Chase-Lansdale investigate the effects of the program in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences . The Community Action Project of Tulsa’s Career Advance program provides education and career training in healthcare to low-income parents with children. Its original model was centered in Head Start and helped parents achieve postsecondary education while their young children received early education programming. The program also provided numerous supportive services such as free tuition and childcare. The second model, which was based in an adult education and workforce agency and designed to serve the broader Tulsa population, began offering parents similar family-centered support and assistance The IPR team conducted a randomized control trial to evaluate the impacts of the adult model. They surveyed 277 racially and ethnically diverse parents, mostly mothers, 191 of whom received access to the program and 86 who did not. After a year in the program, parent participants were more likely to have obtained a vocational certificate or an associate degree compared to those who did not participate. The study is one of the first to show experimentally that a two-generation program might be effective in promoting student parents’ educational success.

Health Inequalities

Visibility, Relationship Dynamics, and Wellbeing the Bi+ Community

Bi+ people—those who are attracted to more than one gender—are the largest group within the LGBTQ+ community, but they often feel invisible. They also experience greater mental health challenges than people who identify as heterosexual, gay, or lesbian. A study by Emma McGorray, IPR social psychologist Eli Finkel , and Brian Feinstein in Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity explores associations between bi+ individuals’ feelings of invisibility and their quality of life, particularly in the context of romantic relationships. The researchers focus on two main questions: whether feeling visible as a bi+ person is linked to greater wellbeing, and which features of romantic relationships are associated with greater feelings of visibility. The team surveyed 450 bi+ individuals who were single, in same-gender relationships, or in mixed-gender relationships. They found that feeling recognized as a bi+ person was linked to higher levels of wellbeing, especially for those who consider their sexual orientation central to their sense of self. Participants in mixed-gender relationships with heterosexual partners reported a lower sense of visibility compared to those in same-gender relationships and those with bi+ partners. The study also revealed that a bi+ individual may feel invisible even when their partner affirms and recognizes their identity. The researchers encourage clinicians working with bi+ individuals to pay attention to their romantic relationships and partner characteristics and to assess how visible and central these individuals consider their bi+ identity. Finkel is a Morton O. Schapiro IPR Faculty Fellow.

Race, Poverty, and Inequality

Perceptions of a Living Wage

How much money is enough to live on is fundamental to many basic life decisions. In a working paper, IPR adjunct professor Michael Kraus and his colleagues examine how people estimate a living wage, how income shapes their estimates, and how it influences their support for government policies. The researchers asked 1,000 adults across the United States several questions, including what they think is a living wage, the average wage of working adults, and the average wage of workers earning the minimum wage. The participants also reported what they consider to be a basic need, their monthly spending, and their support for redistributive policies. The researchers find that people’s estimates of a living wage are higher than the federal poverty line, the state and federal minimum wage, a popular cost of living calculator called the MIT living wage calculator, and the proposed minimum wage standard of $15 per hour. Participants who reported higher estimates of a living wage were more likely to support redistributive policies, such as expanding programs that improve the living standards of disadvantaged groups or creating a federal job guarantee program. The results show that people generally report a living wage as higher than the federal standard and their beliefs about economic conditions are shaped by their own socioeconomic experiences. Future research should continue to explore income’s influence on perceptions of a living wage and how people calculate leisure as part of a living wage, given its importance for wellbeing.

Parent-Child Discussions Can Help Address Subtle Racism

Experts recommend that White parents discuss racism with their children to reduce racial bias. However, many parents fail to do so. In a study published in Developmental Psychology, IPR psychologist Sylvia Perry and her colleagues investigate what sort of language White parents used in guided discussions of race with their 8–12-year-old children and whether the conversations effectively decreased bias. The researchers recruited 84 White parent and child pairs who participated in a guided discussion task. Parents and their children watched interactions between a White and Black child that showcased overt prejudice, subtle prejudice, or neutral interactions. Following this, parents used suggested discussion prompts meant to facilitate color-conscious conversations, where prejudice was acknowledged, and discourage colorblind conversations, where prejudice was downplayed. Parents and children separately completed implicit association tests to measure their anti-Black bias before and after the task. The results indicated that parents and children who had discussed race showed a significant decrease in anti-Black bias, with parents’ implicit bias score decreasing from 0.53 to 0.34 and children's implicit bias score decreasing from 0.41 to 0.16. Moreover, over 90% of parents and children used color-conscious language during their discussion, and this was associated with decreased bias in both parents and children. Although some parents also used colorblind language during the guided task, this language weakened but did not erase the positive effects of the color-conscious language on bias reduction. Researchers suggest that it is critical for parents to have honest conversations with their children about racism, even from a young age.

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Published: September 27, 2024.

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8th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Conference

Picture of Event title and time with skylines as the background

The 8th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Research Conference will bring together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss questions relating to urban expansion and the future of cities.

The theme is of increasing importance to academics and policy makers alike as the supply of ideas and demand for solutions to address the challenges of urban expansion are growing. Cities in some developing countries are growing at faster rates and at lower income levels than those in developed countries. If well-directed and well-managed, expansion and densification of urban areas can bring economic growth while also offering poverty reduction opportunities. If poorly directed and managed, the result can be congested, unsustainable, and unproductive environments.

Planning for the cities of tomorrow is thus a crucial task, but one benefitting from a multi-disciplinary approach. This edition of the conference will draw from experts at the interface of policy and research to understand which new ideas, new methods, and new collaborations can bring about necessary changes.

The conference will feature a series of policy- and research-oriented events on March 7, 2024, followed by a more technical series of seminars and events (including a Young Urban Economist Workshop) on March 8, 2024. The conference is co-sponsored by the World Bank ( Development Research Group and Urban, Disaster Risk, Resilience, and Land ), George Washington University ( Elliott School of International Affairs and Institute for International Economic Policy ), the International Growth Centre ( Cities that Work and Cities Research Program ), and Millennium Challenge Corporation .

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(PDF) Role of Education in Poverty Reduction
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(PDF) 100 Questions: Identifying research priorities for poverty
The list includes questions across a number of important themes, including attitudes, education, family, employment, heath, wellbeing, inclusion, markets, housing, taxes, inequality and power ...
PDF Poverty in Education
Description of Poverty and the Role of Education. Poverty can best be described as a family of four or more whose average yearly. income falls below the federal poverty level of $22,050. In order for families to make. ends meet research shows that approximately twice the income of the federal poverty. level is needed.
Harvard study shows exactly how poverty impacts children's success
Study picks out key indicators like lead exposure, violence, and incarceration that impact children's later success. Social scientists have long understood that a child's environment — in particular growing up in poverty — can have long-lasting effects on their success later in life. What's less well understood is exactly how.
PDF Poverty and education: A teacher's perspective
About one-third of participants (37.9%) described the socio-economic context of their school as mostly low-income, 37.9% as mixed incomes and 29.7% as mostly middle income. One in four. participants (24.1%) viewed teachers and staff at their school as being "quite aware" and 13.8% as "very aware" (13.8%) of the effects of poverty on ...
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About 41 percent of the nation's children — nearly 30 million in 2008 — live in families with low incomes, that is, incomes below twice the official poverty level (for 2009, about $44,000 for a family of four). Although families with incomes between 100 and 200 percent of the poverty level are not officially classified as poor, many face ...
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The transformative power of education in the fight against poverty
Time and again, research has proven the incredible power of education to break poverty cycles and economically empower individuals from the most marginalized communities with dignified work and upward social mobility. Research at UNESCO has shown that world poverty would be more than halved if all adults completed secondary school. And if all ...
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Abstract. This article explores the correlation between poverty and education. Poverty has been a core concept of interest in research on educational inequality. However, the conceptualization of poverty in empirical educational research does not always, or even usually, conform to definitions and measures that are prevalent in the poverty ...
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This paper's goal is to discuss implications for the empirical study of low educational status arising from the use of the concept of educational poverty in research. It has two related conceptual foci: (1) the relationship of educational poverty with material poverty and to what extent useful parallels exist, and (2) the distinction of absolute and relative (educational) poverty and whether ...
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Educational outcomes are one of the key areas influenced by family incomes. Children from low-income families often start school already behind their peers who come from more affluent families, as shown in measures of school readiness. The incidence, depth, duration and timing of poverty all influence a child's educational attainment, along ...
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Introduction. Poverty eradication has been the key objective for spans in many countries since that has been recognized as the greatest hostile issues 'jeopardising balanced society socio-economic development' (Balvociute, 2020).Poverty can be considered one of the core features of unsustainable socio-economic development and as a persistent phenomenon that can have upsetting effect on ...
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The Hardships and Dreams of Asian Americans Living in Poverty. About one-in-ten Asian Americans live in poverty. Pew Research Center conducted 18 focus groups in 12 languages to explore their stories and experiences. reportDec 4, 2023.
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The impact of poverty on young children is significant and long lasting. Poverty is associated with substandard housing, hunger, homelessness, inadequate childcare, unsafe neighborhoods, and under-resourced schools. In addition, low-income children are at greater risk than higher-income children for a range of cognitive, emotional, and health ...
(PDF) 100 Questions: identifying research priorities for poverty
In order to deal with entrenched problems of poverty, improvements need to be made to knowledge about the drivers of poverty and the efectiveness of potential solutions.To this end, an exercise led by a partnership between the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge aimed to identify 100 ...
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Race, Poverty, and Inequality Identifying core trends and dynamics for these critical issues. Neighborhoods and Community Safety Understanding the causes of urban problems and poverty. Our Work . Our Work Overview; Policy Briefs Explore research-based overviews on vital policy topics. Working Papers Search IPR working papers for research insights.
8th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Conference
The 8th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Research Conference will bring together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss questions relating to urban expansion and the future of cities.. The theme is of increasing importance to academics and policy makers alike as the supply of ideas and demand for solutions to address the challenges of urban expansion are growing.

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Ten Important Questions About Child Poverty and Family Economic Hardship

What is the Nature of Poverty and Economic Hardship in the United States?

How Serious is the Problem of Economic Hardship for American Families?

Is it Possible to Reduce Economic Hardship among American Families?

1. What does it mean to experience poverty?

2. How is poverty measured in the United States?

3. Are Americans who experience poverty now better off than a generation ago?

4. How accurate are commonly held stereotypes about poverty?

5. How many children in the US live in families with low incomes?

6. Are some children and families at greater risk for economic hardship than others?

7. What are the effects of economic hardship on children?

Is it Possible to Reduce Economic Hardship for American Families?

9. Why should Americans care about family economic hardship?

10. What can be done to increase economic security for America’s children and families?

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Exploring the relationship between poverty and school performance

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The Impact of Education and Culture on Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Panel Data of European Countries

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Poverty, place and pedagogy in education: research stories from front-line workers

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