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The focus of this study is to investigate whether there are links between social mobility and poverty from the viewpoint of the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The context for the study is the economic crisis of the early 1990s in Finland. The study seeks answers to questions such as whether there were changes in the intergenerational transmission of poverty during the first half of the 1990s and whether the intergenerational transmission of poverty is different among men and women. In addition, the study seeks to determine whether the intergenerational transmission of poverty is different among those coming from poor and non-poor family backgrounds in the period 1990 – 1995. The data are derived from the 1970–1995 Longitudinal Census Data File of Statistics Finland. The panel, gathered every fifth year, is a register-based dataset, containing information on around 700 000 Finns. The 1960 birth cohort, who were 10 years old in 1970, and consequently 30 years old in 1990, was selected as the basis for the analysis. The results of the study indicate that poverty shows clear signs of intergenerational transmission in Finland: those coming from a poor family background have around twice as high a risk of poverty in young adulthood compared to those from a non-poor family background. However, the transmission of poverty did not change during the depression: those coming from a poor family background had the same risk of poverty before and after the depression. In addition, intergenerational transmission of poverty was quite similar among men and women.

This article argues that urban poverty pockets emerged in Poland in the course of the system transformation towards capitalism. The main poverty drivers were the three overlapping processes: de-industrialization, 'dewelfarization' and de-institutionalization of the family accompanied by the devolution of social care management from the central to the local government. The enclaves of poverty emerged as a result of better-off residents leaving dilapidated blocks of flats and both spontaneous and deliberate accommodation of poorer citizens in these houses as social housing residents. In these areas, poverty tends to take root and reproduce in subsequent generations. The article is based on a 20-year study carried out in the city of Łódź under the author's supervision. The article summarizes the findings obtained from three sources: 1) narrative interviews held twice in 1998 and 2008 among 90 adults belonging to the subsequent generations of a certain extended family residing in a poverty enclave; 2) 73 in-depth interviews with teenage mothers residing in poverty enclaves, 3) a quantitative survey of 500 13year-old pupils attending schools located in poverty enclaves. The author arrives at the conclusion that poverty enclaves in Łódź resemble neighbourhoods of relegation as conceptualized by Loic Wacquant.

This article argues that urban poverty pockets emerged in Poland in the course of the system transformation towards capitalism. The main poverty drivers were the three overlapping processes: de-industrialization, 'dewelfarization' and de-institutionalization of the family accompanied by the devolution of social care management from the central to the local government. The enclaves of poverty emerged as a result of better-off residents leaving dilapidated blocks of flats and both spontaneous and deliberate accommodation of poorer citizens in these houses as social housing residents. In these areas, poverty tends to take root and reproduce in subsequent generations. The article is based on a 20-year study carried out in the city of Łódź under the author's supervision. The article summarizes the findings obtained from three sources: 1) narrative interviews held twice — in 1998 and 2008 — among 90 adults belonging to the subsequent generations of a certain extended family residing in a poverty enclave; 2) 73 in-depth interviews with teenage mothers residing in poverty enclaves, 3) a quantitative survey of 500 13-year-old pupils attending schools located in poverty enclaves. The author arrives at the conclusion that poverty enclaves in Łódź resemble neighbourhoods of relegation as conceptualized by Loic Wacquant.

AbstractThis article explores the relationship between conflict, education and the intergenerational transmission of poverty in Northern Uganda using a Q‐squared approach, which combines and sequences qualitative and quantitative approaches. The focus is on whether people with education have greater resilience than those without during and following periods of conflict and insecurity. Findings include that conflict in Northern Uganda has resulted in chronic and intergenerational poverty, and that education supports resilience during and following periods of conflict and insecurity – it is a 'portable' asset of great value. The article concludes that education should be supported by governments and donors during and post‐conflict. This will support resilience during conflict, limiting the poverty impact of conflict on households and enabling a speedier post‐conflict recovery. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Many U.S. policymakers support changing the "culture" of poor parents to encourage marriage, work, and religion as a means to end the intergenerational transmission of poverty. In this article Jens Ludwig and Susan Mayer review and evaluate research on how parental work, marriage, and religion affect children's socioeconomic status as adults, as well as on the likelihood that changing these indicators of parental behavior will reduce poverty in the next generation. They conclude that even if policymakers were able to ensure that all children had married, working, and religious parents, the result would be a far smaller reduction in poverty among the children's generation than many people believe.


The explanation for this "poverty-prevention paradox," say Ludwig and Mayer, is that the poverty rate in the children's generation depends not only on how many poor children grow up to be poor adults, but also on how many nonpoor children grow up to be poor adults. Reducing the chances that poor children become poor adults will dramatically lower future poverty rates only if most poor adults begin life as poor children. But most poor adults grow up as nonpoor children in the type of "pro-social" households that policymakers are pushing to attain. Moreover, little good evidence supports the idea that such parental behaviors as marriage, work, and religious adherence have strong causal effects on children's long-term economic success.


The authors argue that encouraging positive social behaviors in the parents of poor children is a worthwhile goal in its own right. But they stress that policymakers should recognize the limits of this strategy for reducing poverty among future generations. There may be no substitute for a system of social insurance and income transfers for those children who do wind up poor as adults.

Investigates the extent to which poverty is passed from parents to children in the US. Transition matrices, constructed using 1968-1988 data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, show the probability of being poor, conditional on the poverty status of one's parents. Intergenerational immobility is measured using various coefficients of agreement. It is concluded that, under the economic conditions of the last two decades, children of poor parents have a 16%-28% probability of being poor adults. Had economic conditions not improved during the 1970s & 1980s, the probability of inheriting the poverty of one's parents would have been 32%-46%. About 50% of those who escape the poverty of their parents end up with a net family income less than twice the poverty line. Results adds weight to recent evidence that economic mobility in the US is less than had been previously thought, & cast doubt on the widely held belief that equality of opportunity is a characteristic of US society. 5 Tables, 23 References. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractThe literature on intergenerational transmission of poverty—ITP—suggests that higher income levels and improved educational attainment of parents tend to impact on children's future welfare. This paper tests the ITP proposition, in the framework of the quantity–quality model, using the 2015/16 Botswana Multiple Topic Indicator Survey data. Results reveal that the ITP assumption is strongly valid—the probability of attaining secondary education by an adolescent—proxy for escaping the poverty trap—is determined by family socio‐economic characteristics. That is, while welfare improvements among current adults are desirable, they could also be impactful on children's tendency to or not escape the poverty trap.