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The National Academies Child Poverty Report

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 3, 2020 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (PDT)

Marriott Marquis, San Diego Ballroom A
Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Robert T. Michael, University of Chicago

The National Academies Child Poverty Report

Janet Currie
,
Princeton University
Robert Moffitt
,
Johns Hopkins University

Abstract

In late 2016, the U.S. Congress mandated that the National Academies conduct an expert study of alternative programs that could reduce child poverty in the U.S. by 50% within 10 years. The idea was based on a similar proposal by Tony Blair for the UK. The Committee was interdisciplinary but the three economists who will lead this session were key contributors. The Committee studied alternative programs that could decrease child poverty while at the same time having minimal work disincentives or even work incentives. A large microsimulation model was used for the calculations. The Committee found several combinations of programs including expanding the EITC, increasing child care subsidies, and expanding housing subsidies and food programs could cut the poverty rate by 50% and could simultaneously have a net increase in labor supply. A national child benefit, similar to one recently enacted by Canada, would also have major impacts but more work disincentives. Modest increases in the minimum wage, job training programs, and expanding disability programs, had little impact on poverty, however. The results of the study are being heavily discussed by policy makers and by economists who work on poverty reduction in the U.S.
Discussant(s)
Angus Deaton
,
Princeton University
Karen Dynan
,
Harvard University
Lawrence Katz
,
Harvard University
JEL Classifications
  • I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
  • H4 - Publicly Provided Goods