Myth and Reality: The Causes and Persistence of Poverty

In: Journal of policy analysis and management: the journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Band 4, Heft 4, S. 516-536

Abstract

Policies directed at alleviating poverty rest on a set of assumptions regarding the demographic composition of the poor & the psychological dispositions of poor individuals. Evidence from a representative sample of 5,165 low-income individuals who participated in the 1969-1978 Panel Study of Income Dynamics shows that poverty is widespread but not usually persistent, & that the characteristics of the persistently poor do not conform to the conventional wisdom. The economic status of the poor does not appear to have been caused by psychological dispositions. Intergenerational data from the same study show generally weak links between poverty or welfare status of parents & that of their children. Public policies for dealing with poverty can be properly devised without attempting to resocialize poor people & without undue concern that poverty programs will generate dependency among the majority of those they help. 1 Table. Modified HA