scholarly journals Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Black–White child poverty gap in the United States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Parolin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
The United States ◽  
White Child ◽  
Temporary Assistance

scholarly journals Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Black-White Child Poverty Gap in the United States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Parolin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Single Mother ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
State Level ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Black Children ◽  
The United States ◽  
White Child ◽  
Reduction Effect ◽  
Temporary Assistance

Black children in the United States are more than twice as likely as white children to live in poverty. While past research has primarily attributed this phenomenon to the family structure of black children, this paper investigates how state-level heterogeneity in social assistance programs contributes to the black-white child poverty gap. I find that racial inequities in states’ administration of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program contributed to the impoverishment of approximately 256,000 black children per year from 2012-2014. State-year panel data demonstrates that states with larger percentages of black residents are less likely to prioritize the ‘provision of cash assistance’ but more likely to allocate funds toward the ‘discouragement of lone motherhood.’ Neutralizing inequities in states’ TANF spending priorities would reduce the black-white child poverty gap by up to 15 percent – comparable to the reduction effect of moving all children in single-mother households to two-parent households.

Child Poverty in Sweden and the United States: The Effect of Social Transfers and Parental Labor Force Participation

ILR Review ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Jäntti ◽  
Sheldon Danziger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Labor Force Participation ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lower Percentage ◽  
Homogeneous Population ◽  
Social Transfers ◽  
Using Data

The authors compare the incidence and some of the causes of child poverty in Sweden and the United States in selected years using data from the Luxembourg Income Study. The U.S. sample is restricted to white non-hispanic children to present the most favorable comparison with Sweden's more homogeneous population. When parents' labor force participation and demographic characteristics are taken into account, the proportion of children in families whose income prior to social transfers and taxes was below the poverty line (defined as 40% of median disposable income adjusted for family size) is very similar in the two countries. Because all poor children in Sweden received transfers and many in the United States did not, however, and because transfers were more generous in Sweden, a much lower percentage of children in Sweden than in the United States were poor after social transfers and taxes, regardless of parents' work effort or other characteristics.

scholarly journals Addressing Child Poverty: How Does the United States Compare With Other Nations?

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. S67-S75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Smeeding ◽  
Céline Thévenot
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
The United States

scholarly journals Child poverty in the United States from the perspective of conflict theory

2021 ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Conflict ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Social Conflict Theory

This article analyzes social problems linked to child poverty in the United States from the perspective of social conflict theory. Specifically, this article depicts the poverty meas-urements used to evaluate poverty issues in the United States. It also describes the United States’ efforts to reform social welfare policies to decrease child poverty. This article aims to educate social work students about factors directly connected to child poverty, such as unemployment, low wages, family structure, education, and immigrants. In doing so, this article uses social theories such as social conflict theory to understand what aspects of American culture are linked to the persistence of child poverty. Finally, this article dis-cusses the long-term plans and massive efforts required to reduce the causes of poverty.

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