generational poverty photo essay

• photo essay

Below The Line: Portraits of American Poverty

Correction appended Nov. 18, 2011: A previous version of a caption in this slideshow incorrectly stated that a house had toxic drywall. TIME regrets the error.

In 2010, more Americans lived below the poverty line than at any time since 1959, when the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting this data. Last January, TIME commissioned photographer Joakim Eskildsen to capture the growing crisis, which now affects nearly 46.2 million Americans. Traveling to New York, California, Louisiana, South Dakota and Georgia over seven months, Eskildsen’s photographs of the many types of people who face poverty appear in the new issue of TIME . Eskildsen, who last visited America in 1986, says the poverty crisis was a side of the country he’d rarely seen in the media in Berlin, where he is based. “For Europeans living outside of America, it’s a mythical place because we’re breastfed with all those images of Coca-Cola and American culture,” Eskildsen says. “It was very heartbreaking to see all kinds of people facing poverty because many of these people were not only economically poor, but living in unhealthy conditions overall.”

Eskildsen was also surprised by how pervasive poverty is in America. “Once you start digging, you realize people in poverty are everywhere, and you can really go through your life without seeing them before you yourself are standing in the food stamp line,” he says. “So many people spoke about the disappointment of the American Dream—this, they said, was the American Reality.” In the accompanying magazine story, Barbara Kiviat argues that “there is no single archetype of America’s poor,” and that “understanding what poverty is in reality—and not in myth—is crucial” to efforts to erase the situation. Perhaps equally as crucial is the effort to put a face to the statistic, which Eskildsen has done here in haunting detail.

Joakim Eskildsen is a Danish photographer based in Berlin. He is best known for his book The Roma Journeys (Steidl, 2007) . More of his work can be seen here .

The project was done in collaboration with Natasha Del Toro, reporter for TIME.

Feifei Sun is a reporter at TIME . Find her on Twitter at @Feifei_Sun or on Facebook .

More Must-Reads From TIME

• Jane Fonda Champions Climate Action for Every Generation
• Passengers Are Flying up to 30 Hours to See Four Minutes of the Eclipse
• Biden’s Campaign Is In Trouble. Will the Turnaround Plan Work?
• Essay: The Complicated Dread of Early Spring
• Why Walking Isn’t Enough When It Comes to Exercise
• The Financial Influencers Women Actually Want to Listen To
• The Best TV Shows to Watch on Peacock
• Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time

Contact us at [email protected]

You May Also Like

We use cookies to help better serve your experience. Accept Cookies

• Receive Emails

Depicting Poverty: Matt Black Pushes Documentary Photography to its Fullest Range

We know what poverty looks like: unpainted boards, empty windows and door frames, broken roofing. Or it could be sagging fences and telephone poles, or cracked pavement and graffiti-stained concrete walls. Or faded billboards and backlot signage with their ironic injunctions to “dream” or “save.” Or worn faces and bodies scarred by years of hard labor, want, and worry. Such stark, black and white images of abandonment and desolation have become the iconography of documentary photography. They also were a genuine artistic achievement and a major contribution to public life. If you doubt that, consider what it would have been to see only the sunny faces, gleaming suburbs, and beautiful vistas of commercial advertising.

Yet, as with all black and white photography, the documentary images now can seem antique. They evoke an earlier time and a different sense of community: tenements and unions, the dust bowl and the New Deal, Life magazine photo-essays and LBJ’s War on Poverty. One could imagine that by bringing unseen miseries to light, others would respond so that, someday, such photographs would be unnecessary—or even impossible.

That day has yet to come. Photographers still are laboring to expose poverty, which in the US now is getting worse, not better. Poverty rates are rising while it also is becoming more widespread and more persistent. Most important, perhaps, too many in the society and among its so-called leadership are less and less likely to see poverty as their problem, as something affecting their community.

What, then, should a photographer do?  Scrap the conventions that served so well in the past—say, to use the color that saturates everyday photography and thus risk superficiality, or to experiment for an audience that doesn’t often reward artistic innovation? Keep recycling the same images in the hope that persistence and some nuance of artistry or change in distribution can make a difference? Or work within the documentary conventions while also developing photography’s overlooked capacities as a medium?

Enter Matt Black , who has been doing really good work to document poverty in the US today. Note that I did not say “compelling” work or “powerful” work; frankly, I am sadly skeptical about the persuasive capacity of documentary photography today, and not because of the photographers. Even if the work does not persuade as it should, however, we need not let the venality and cowardice dominating politics and news media today keep us from learning. And Black has something to teach.

The first lesson comes from his commitment to black and white. Because he also hews so closely to the formal compositions, precise tonalities, and other artistic conventions of the documentary tradition, the resonance with the past is palpable yet without a hint of nostalgia.

And because the point is the subject, rather than the artistry, the implication becomes clear: what should be past is still present.

The fact that poverty looks the same is due not to artistic complacency, but rather the failure of a modern society to achieve its own goals. Although the images do capture specific circumstances of the present, it becomes clear that the names may change while the system remains the same. His use of full range of the classic iconography—for example, the portrait above—does what it always did: communicate the dignity of the individual person while showing how it was sapped by the real conditions of their existence. The hard truth, however, is that people continue to struggle with scarcities that can at best be described as artificial.

No wonder his major project is labeled “ The Geography of Poverty .” Systemic, widespread, endemic: he is not focusing on personal stories or individual virtues and vices; he is mapping how poverty is a major problem today, now, this minute and every minute. Doing so takes any photographer to the edge of the medium: how can the camera depict markets and other networks of distribution?

Photography is an archive of fragments, a museum of particularity: single moments in specific places. It shows what was there, then, but not how something can be elsewhere or everywhere. For that, we are told by critics of the medium, one has to turn to writing and to other arts more capable of abstraction.

It is precisely in addressing this predicament that Black excels.

Many of the photographs feature patterns and some are works of abstract art. They have actual referents, of course—power lines, fencing, oil stains—but that is the lesser point. Nor are we being invited to a guessing game, or to admire the artistry, or to conclude that there is beauty even in dire circumstances.

The abstraction is front and center, and it is featured as a normal property of photography. As if one might say: “of course, this is another image of poverty; can’t you see?” Because it is an image of poverty, and these are the second and third lessons: poverty is a system, and its persistence depends on abstraction. There are patterns of deprivation that can be seen. There is a geography to poverty: across the country and in every city and town. It is systemic. And there are patterns that extend indifference. Poverty persists in part because we think of it too often in terms of abstractions: the economy, the poor, market solutions, the working poor, supply and demand, those people. . . .

Because poverty is systemic, it has to be addressed in terms that implicate and obligate the society as a whole. Because it depends on processes of denial that employ abstractions, we have to learn to see it even in abstract images. These several contributions come together in Black’s photographs of found patterns or accidental artworks.

These images also are material records of the daily catastrophes that become bound together in poverty.

The abstraction makes an argument that might be lost in accounts of the particular incidents. There always will be social problems, but it should not be easy to take a photograph of shattered glass at long-shuttered factories, or blood-stained walls, or criss-crossed power lines, or defaced blackboards, or towns that are much too empty.

By creating images that could double as works of fine art, Black challenges a system of public indifference. These are images that should not be possible, or at least not necessary, but here they are, today, showing what is happening everywhere. By drawing on photography’s capacity for abstraction, which also is often unseen, Matt Black is able to confront a system of persistent and unnecessary violence.

-Robert Hariman

Photos: Matt Black/Magnum Photos  Caption:  Hosmer, SD. Empty farmhouse. Hosmer is a town in Edmunds County, South Dakota. The population is 208 and 28.2% live below the poverty level;   Caption 2 : Flint, MI. Tim Monahan caught Legionnaires’ disease in June 2014, two months after the city switched to Flint River water. 91 cases of Legionnaires’ have been reported so far, with twelve deaths. “For all intents and purposes, they are getting away with murder,” he said.; Caption 3 : Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. Broken utility wires.; Caption: 4 ; Reading, PA. Shuttered factory. Reading is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The population is 88,082 and 38.7% live below the poverty level. 

Robert Hariman See other posts by Robert here.

Follow us on Instagram ( @readingthepictures ) and Twitter ( @readingthepix ), and subscribe to our newsletter.

A curated collection of pieces related to our most-popular subject matter.

• Photography/Photojournalism
• The Great Recession
• The Rich and the Poor

Comments Powered by Disqus

clock This article was published more than  2 years ago

These photos show how the ‘American Dream’ continues to fade as the gap between haves and have-nots increases

Looking at photographer Matt Black’s book “ American Geography ” (Thames and Hudson, 2021), I can’t help but wonder what the people in it think about the various debates going on in the country. Does any of it seem relevant to them? When your life centers on the issue of poverty, does it really matter what Big Bird did or didn’t say? Does the squabbling between the “progressive” and the “moderate” wings of the Democratic Party really matter?

Aren’t the actual policies our legislators do or do not put in place, are what’s really important? “American Geography” shows that Black was able to travel from the West Coast to the East Coast of the country, a journey of thousands of miles, without ever crossing the poverty line. What are we doing to address that? It seems as though political theater is just that — theater, entertainment, a distraction.

Black’s photos are almost too eloquent in showing the issues affecting America’s less affluent areas. The textures in his images are luxuriantly lush, and the artistry in rendering what was in front of his lens is immaculate. The work in “American Geography” is almost too beautiful for the wretched conditions it describes. But its deft touch is so compelling — the images are so vivid and riveting that you can’t help but be drawn to them and the questions they ask.

“American Geography” began as an exploration by Black of the conditions surrounding him. It’s not just parachuting into these situations and then jumping out. He doesn’t live in a loft in Manhattan or London or any other glitzy metropolis. He started in the very place he lives and then expanded outward.

As it says at the end of the book, “Matt Black lives in the Central Valley, a rural, agricultural area in the heart of California. He began taking photos for his local newspaper, and his work since has focused on themes of geography, inequality, and the environment in his native region and in related places.”

I first became aware of Black’s work more than 15 years ago while I was working alongside like-minded friends helping to produce an online magazine dedicated to documentary photography. One of our old professors, who is from California, introduced us to Black’s work.

This was far before Black’s profile began getting wide national and international attention. It was before his name began appearing in the Rolodexes of a lot of photography’s cognoscenti. But even back then, Black was doing exactly the same kind of work he does now, wholly dedicating himself to examining the conditions of poverty in the United States, considered one of the richest nations on Earth — if not the richest.

You’ll find a description of the process that Black went through as he compiled “American Geography” at the end of the book:

“Between 2015 and 2020, Black traveled over 100,000 miles across 46 states … documenting the experiences of those living in the poorest communities. Starting in the Central Valley, where billions of dollars are generated every year in agricultural output but one third of the population lives in poverty, Black traveled to other areas of ‘concentrated poverty’ — a U.S. Census definition for places with a poverty rate of 20 percent or more. What Black found is that rather than being distant anomalies, these communities were rarely more than a two-hour drive apart, and he was able to travel the entire country without ever crossing the poverty line.”

As this Post Editorial Board article notes, the United States continues to fracture as the gaps between the haves and the have-nots increases. As this happens, it remains vital to interrogate and show that an alternative reality to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and our elite coastal cities exists.

It is increasingly clear that the myth of the “American Dream” is fading away for a significant portion of Americans. “American Geography” attests to that in an extremely powerful way. It is an essential document for our increasingly unsteady times.

You can find out more about the book and buy it here .

In Sight is The Washington Post’s photography blog for visual narrative. This platform showcases compelling and diverse imagery from staff members and freelance photographers, news agencies and archives. If you are interested in submitting a story to In Sight, please complete this form .

• Offbeat midterm moments: Election images that caught our eye November 15, 2022 Offbeat midterm moments: Election images that caught our eye November 15, 2022
• An exhibition and a book showcase this photographer’s fantastical and magical images March 11, 2022 An exhibition and a book showcase this photographer’s fantastical and magical images March 11, 2022
• This photographer’s images explore the mysteries of northern Arizona March 14, 2022 This photographer’s images explore the mysteries of northern Arizona March 14, 2022

#EndPoverty images tell a powerful story

Donna barne.

​ Making people care is one powerful way to fight poverty.  Thirty years ago, images of mass starvation in Ethiopia prompted a global response to address the problem. Today, a projected 700 million people live in extreme poverty, on $1.90 a day or less, trying to feed and clothe their children in very adverse conditions. Millions more live just above this poverty line but still face daily struggles to meet their families’ basic needs and to avoid falling even further into poverty. These numbers are too big to imagine, but a photo can offer a glimpse of another person’s reality and raise awareness. The #endpoverty hashtag challenge, a partnership between National Geographic Your Shot and the World Bank Group, asked photographers to show what #endpoverty meant to them.  How are people helping other people live better lives? How are people helping themselves? What does resilience look like?

  A woman sleeping among all the goods she is selling in the local market of Sucre, #Bolivia. | Photograph by @timothycohen | For most of the people in Bolivia, the sales of #local products and handicraft are the only incomes they have. Buying products directly from local suppliers instead of a chain or supermarket is one of the ways to help them to survive. This photo was chosen by @natgeo photographer @erika_larsen for publication through the @natgeoyourshot #endpoverty challenge. What the World Bank is doing: 6 out of 10 people in rural Bolivia live under the poverty line. They face limited economic opportunities, particularly indigenous groups and women. To spark change, we are supporting community grants to fund basic infrastructure and promote sustainable agriculture in the poorest rural areas. #LatinAmerica #LAC #YourShot #localmarket #buylocal #endpoverty http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/tags/endpoverty/#editors-favorites A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Aug 11, 2015 at 4:10am PDT

  Miss Fanja in her field, Madagascar | Photo by Sébastien D. Miss Fanja and her family have been trained in new #agricultural techniques that aim to increase yields and limit extension on natural #forests. Two years after the end of the program, she was glad to show me the results when I came back to the village. This photo was chosen by @natgeo photographer @erika_larsen for publication through the @natgeoyourshot #endpoverty challenge. #Madagascar #Africa #everydayafrica #SSA #agriculture #farming #naturalresources #familyfarm #nofilter A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Sep 20, 2015 at 2:17pm PDT

  Corruption leads to Poverty | Photo by Philipp Engelhorn | In the Photo is Mr. Shajahan (40 years) and his family who live in one of the last houses on top of the #Kabul mountains. Up there in winter it is like living on a glacier, no heat, no running water ..-40 C... He is an ex mujahedeen who lost everything after the fight for Kabul (1990). "I fought for my country like everybody else, the old Warlords are driving big SUV's and are rich now , I cannot feed my family. #Afghanistan is doomed, the corruption will eat us all up." This photo was chosen by @natgeo photographer @erika_larsen for publication through the @natgeoyourshot #endpoverty challenge. She described the photo as raw and real, a beautiful moment of a man and his family. What the World Bank Group is doing: Corruption remains a challenge in Afghanistan. We focus on improving the lives of people. For example, grants through our fund for the poorest countries (IDA) are helping to build or rebuild roads connecting isolated villages to health centers and markets in the mountainous central region. #corruption #endpoverty #family#afgahnistan #children #portrait #photography A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Sep 1, 2015 at 9:50am PDT

Miss Fanja in her field, Madagascar | Photo by Sébastien D. Miss Fanja and her family have been trained in new #agricultural techniques that aim to increase yields and limit extension on natural #forests. Two years after the end of the program, she was glad to show me the results when I came back to the village. This photo was chosen by @natgeo photographer @erika_larsen for publication through the @natgeoyourshot #endpoverty challenge. #Madagascar #Africa #everydayafrica #SSA #agriculture #farming #naturalresources #familyfarm #nofilter A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Sep 20, 2015 at 2:17pm PDT

  #Congratulations @roman_social! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #Repost
・・・
Une levée totale de l'embargo à Cuba permettrait aux investissements privés et institutionnels d'aider économiquement le pays #cestenbonnevoie #JeVoisChaqueJour #EachDayIsee @banquemondiale #depardonmucem A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:56am PST

  Congratulations @suzannemariew! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #Repost
・・・
Good morning from Lviv, Ukraine! A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:55am PST

  Congratulations @suzannemariew! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #Repost
・・・
Missing India A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:51am PST

  Congratulations @dickarruda! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #Repost
・・・
"A vida das pessoas é uma grande teia de caminhos emaranhados que se cruzam a todo e qualquer momento, mais de uma vez até, ou não, mas sempre estarão interligados..." A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:50am PST

  Congratulations @emfeltson! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #Repost
・・・
#EachdayIsee humans create racism just like they create poverty. I believe in equality for all, not supremacy for some. A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:49am PST

  Congratulations @ahmadmousa! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #Repost
・・・
Elderly men playing dominos in an old cafe in central #Baghdad #Iraq #iphoneonly #nofilter #everydayiraq #everydaymiddleeast A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:39am PST

  Congratulations @ahmadmousa! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #Repost
・・・
A man sits in front of his book shop in al-Mutanabi street in #Baghdad #Iraq #everydayiraq #iphoneonly #everydaymiddleeast A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:37am PST

  Taxi stand | Photo by Piotr Zaporowski Seats in the trunk of a car are less expensive in rural Afghanistan. Women and children often choose those seats and can be seen travelling in the open trunk. Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. This photo was chosen by @natgeo photographer @erika_larsen for publication through the @natgeoyourshot #endpoverty challenge. She wrote of the photo “This is a great moment giving us a glimpse of one of the normality’s of daily life. I also think this picture works well in black and white." #woman #veiled #transport #taxi #child #cab #travel #afghanistan #southasia #everydayasia #muslim #zaporowski A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Sep 22, 2015 at 10:37am PDT

  Coir and Shy lady | Photo by Jillian Edelstein | In the photo, is Anjalai. Anjalai stands in front of the Coir (coconut husk extract) made by the Coir Unit, which is one of the units in the FXB Suraksha Social #Entrepreneurship Complex in #India. The coconut fibre is used to make matting, as well as several by-products such as bedding for #chickens and compost. The compost is added to the #fruit and #vegetable gardens, which in turn encourages healthy nutritional practices for the FXBVillage families. This photo was chosen by @natgeo photographer @erika_larsen for publication through the @natgeoyourshot #endpoverty challenge. She described the photo as one that was an emotionally environmental portrait both beautiful and bringing important attention to #women’s #entrepreneurship and #health. What the World Bank is doing: Social inclusion and women’s empowerment are key goals of our assistance for India. Among other efforts, we support Tripti, a project in rural Odisha helping thousands of poor women and members of disadvantaged groups start their own businesses. Tripti has reached more than 929,000 households. #coconut #endpoverty #coconuthusk #tamilnadu #worker #nutrition #india A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Aug 21, 2015 at 7:46am PDT

  Congratulations @dereknazley! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #repost
・・・
it does not need money bt a good heart and a pretty soul to help the less fortunate in the society.poverty is a major problem in africa(photo in kenya:northeastern)#help achild in need#eachdayisee# #love #@worldbank A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:29am PST

  Congratulations @javierimedinac! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #repost
・・・
#cadadiaveo #eachdayisee El cambio; cuando queremos el cambio es para mejorar, para avanzar y progresar. la humanidad es consiente de la realidad social pero solo ve y observa mas no pone su granito de arena para el cambio para así vivir en un mundo mejor donde todos somos iguales, una solo especie, por eso yo he elegido esta foto como parte de mi cambio a mi país, al mundo. The change; when we want to change is to improve, to advance and progress. humanity is aware of the social reality but just go and see but not put their bit for change A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:27am PST

  Congratulations @aliveinnyc! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon
・・・
"O Menino de Copacabana" Remembering the amazing trip to Rio from last June. I like the snowy winter in NY, but Brasil... oh Brasil I miss you Rio de Janeiro, Brasil #RenzoGrande A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:26am PST

  Congratulations @ginamardones! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #repost
・・・
#brazil (PT)Escola na Aldeia Apucaraninha-PR. Além do português as crianças são alfabetizadas em caingangue, preservando, desta forma, a cultura indígena. / (ES)Una indiazita en su escuela en la aldea Apucaraninha - PR. Los pequeños son alfabetizados en portugues pero tambien en caingangue. De esta manera preservan su idioma y su cultura. /(FR)Une petite dans son #école au village Apucaraninha-PR. Au-delà du portugais, l'apprentissage de la langue caingangue sert à préserver la culture indienne. / (EN)A little indian in her #school in Apucaraninha village. Besides portuguese literacy, the students take caingangue classes in order to preserve their language and culture. #EachDayISee #Cadadiaveo @bancomundial #bancomundial #onubrasil #unicef @onubrasil @unicef #brasilemfotos @unitednations #unesco @Unesco #enfance #child #education #indian #londrina #parana #instagrambrasil @instagrambrasil #unwoman @unwomen #endpoverty #jevoischaquejour A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:24am PST

  Congratulations @interior_girl0! Your photo is an #EachDayISeeFinalist. To vote for this photo to be selected as one of the 5 winners, click “like”. Vote for as many photos as you like. #EachDayISee #finalists #endpoverty #takeon #repost
・・・
The future belongs to us #EachDayISee #London A photo posted by WorldBank (@worldbank) on Feb 23, 2015 at 11:22am PST

  Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. A photo posted by Mustafa Sharara (@mustafasharara) on Jan 18, 2015 at 7:20am PST

  Students of Tarabeel Elementary School, Meroe, Sudan. طلبة مدرسة الطرابيل اﻻبتدائية في مروي، السودان هذي الصورة غير مقصودة. كان القصد تصوير الطلبة و اهما رافعين اياديهم و اللي معاي استعيلت و صورتني معاهم و انا اطلب منهم رفع اياديهم.. و صارت من احلى صوري للسودان. #Maryam2015 #Sudan #Meroe #Nubian #السودان #مروي #الطرابيل A photo posted by Maryam Sultan Abdullah (@marillimasultan) on Jan 11, 2015 at 10:40pm PST

  "محكومون بالأمل"My new picture from #AlZaatari Syrian #Refugee .camp #Syria #JO #EachDayISee #كل_يوم_أرى A photo posted by Rawan Da'as (@rawandaas) on Sep 6, 2012 at 12:40pm PDT

  CHALLENGES: Masks – The group also needs some masks to help them protect their lives from the dust that is created during the production process of the bone jewelry. The dust is bad for their health and affects the amount of work they are able to do. #KiberaStories Photo courtesy: Victorious Bones Craft brochure. A photo posted by Stories from Kibera (@kiberastories) on Feb 13, 2015 at 11:12am PST

  #FF In La Chureca dump in Managua, #Nicaragua over 8 years ago. The community has come a long way but is still one of the most vulnerable in the country. The Fabretto/Nica HOPE center supports children & families with essential education, vocational & nutrition programs. #flashbackfriday #chureca #poverty #EndPoverty #development #education A photo posted by Fabretto Children's Foundation (@fabrettofoundation) on Jan 9, 2015 at 7:48am PST

  "No way out" #immigrants #immigration #Athens #Greece #window #picoftheday #photo #photooftheday #photojournalism #Syria #Syrians #refugees #portrait #poverty #homeless #crisis #war #instadaily #tbt #night #EachDayISee #justgoshoot A photo posted by Alexia Tsagkari (@alexia_tsagkari) on Jan 6, 2015 at 10:59am PST

  Je vois chaque jour des peuples qui luttent pour leurs droits les plus élémentaires : le droit de manger, le droit de recevoir une éducation décente, le droit à la liberté de penser. (photo: Buenos Aires, Argentina) #jevoischaquejour A photo posted by Aude (@xuxu3333) on Feb 12, 2015 at 1:57am PST

  #eachdayisee / #jevoischaquejour : Urban freight, with what you have to hand / Fret urbain, avec les moyens de bord (Douala, Cameroon) A photo posted by Steve Loïc Tchuenkam (@ltchuenkam) on Jan 20, 2015 at 1:55am PST

  Pq en algunos lugares viajar sigue siendo una odisea pero no deja de ser una aventura espectacular, from Padilla Chuquisaca Bolivia #EachDaylSee#cadadíaveo A photo posted by Luifer Moreno (@luifermore) on Jun 22, 2014 at 5:21pm PDT

  Mujer hondureña trabajando en la milpa #Cadadíaveo #EachDayISee A photo posted by Johanna Kattan (@johannakattan) on Jan 30, 2015 at 4:32pm PST

  Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of Congo. It's a women's world.#EachDayISee A photo posted by @sarah.dekkiche on Feb 13, 2015 at 3:27am PST

  #EachDayISee @WorldBank #brothers#zambia daily task fetching water when they should be at school, change-lives, sponsor a child A photo posted by Jon Love (@jonshoot) on Feb 12, 2015 at 9:05pm PST

  #eachdayisee the child sleeping with street dogs at Dumdum (kolkata, india). He could not manage a bed, sufficient food to make comfort his nights. all day long he beg for his existence. where is the child right? A photo posted by Tanmay Dhar (@aalokolkata) on Feb 12, 2015 at 9:56am PST

  In the rural & poverty stricken areas of #PNG, #EachDayISee children's lives are being transformed through #education. A photo posted by Kokoda Track Foundation (@kokoda_track) on Feb 11, 2015 at 8:32pm PST

  Serueen, 75 years old woman fled with her family to #Khanaqin to live in Iden #IDP camp after leaving their home Diyala's town of Shrwin near #Baquba. #Iraq #everydayiraq #everydaymiddleeast #iphoneonly A photo posted by Ahmad Mousa (@ahmadmousa) on Feb 6, 2015 at 1:46pm PST

  The Rural Life. Girls in villages especially those from poor and backward families remain uneducated and oppressed all their life affecting future generations too.Educating girls from villages will help with women empowerment, to make them self sufficient bringing them out of the life of oppression, helping whole family, their children and future generations. Eligible girls will be supported for higher education and income generating or employment opportunities too. Educating these girls helps to improve standard of living not only for them but their whole family and future generations building up the whole society esp. those from villages in rural India.Girls, the future women are the centre of family. Educating them makes them understand the problems and solve these in a better way improving the standards of living not only for their family but for whole generation in future and the community in general. Educating girls from villages helps to improve standard of living not only for them but their whole family and future generations building up the whole society esp. those from villages in rural India. #poverty #girls #education #educatinggirls #society #unicef #ngo #emporverment #girls #health ##Asia #India #Bihar #Biharodyssey #iphoneonly #storyteller #Documentary #photojournalism #dailylife #reportage #Reportagespotlight #personalproject #therurallife #village #smile #eyes #beauty #eachdayisee #endpoverty A photo posted by Chetan Kumar (@chetankumarstudio) on Feb 6, 2015 at 2:01am PST

  Streets of Dakar A photo posted by @amygajerba on Feb 4, 2015 at 8:32am PST

  #cadadíaveo mas niños y niñas disfrutando del agua. A photo posted by Randy Delgado Herrera (@radelgadoh) on Jan 15, 2015 at 6:20pm PST

  Mãe aguarda, no chão, atendimento médico para o filho doente, na entrada do Pronto Atendimento Infantil, em Londrina, Paraná. Mother waits on the ground, medical care for the sick child, the entrance to the Children's Emergency Department, in Londrina, Paraná. Madre attende a terra, le cure mediche per il bambino malato, l'ingresso al Pronto Soccorso dei bambini, a Londrina, Paraná. Madre espera en el suelo, la atención médica para el niño enfermo, la entrada de Infantil del Departamento de Emergencia, en Londrina, Paraná. #CadaDíaVeo #EachDayISee @bancomundial #bancomundial @onubrasil #onubrasil @unicef #unicef @unesco #unesco @unitednations #unitednations #child #hospital #care #save #health #salute #salud #saúde #mother #mamma #madre #crianca #bambino #infant #endpoverty #instagrambrasil #londrina #parana #fimdapobreza #pobreza #foto #fotografia #photo A photo posted by Marcos Zanutto (@marcoszanutto) on Jan 27, 2015 at 4:55am PST

​This blog was originally posted on Medium .

• Philippines
• Sierra Leone

Corporate Writer, World Bank

Join the Conversation

• Share on mail
• comments added

• Policy Briefs
• Executive Committee
• Emeriti Faculty
• UC Network on Child Health, Poverty, and Public Policy
• Visting Graduate Scholars
• Media Mentions
• Center Updates
• Contact the Center
• for Research Affiliates
• for Graduate Students
• Visiting Faculty Scholars
• External Opportunities
• The Non-traditional Safety Net: Health & Education
• Labor Markets & Poverty
• Children & Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty
• Immigration & Poverty
• Other Activities
• Past Events
• Policy Briefs Short summaries of our research
• Poverty Facts
• Employment, Earnings and Inequality
• Increasing College Access and Success for Low Income Students
• American Poverty Research
• Profiles in Poverty Research
• Government Agencies
• Other Poverty Centers

Research on Children & the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

• Our Board of Trustees
• Books & Videos

Amid the pandemic, women bear the burden of ‘invisible work’ — a photo essay

BY BERNICE BELTRAN

Unpaid care work has prevented many women and children from pursuing education and career opportunities, trapping them in a cycle of poverty. Beltran’s photo essay features two of the many women who led lives living for their families, thereby setting aside their own dreams.

When she was living with her ex-partner, Amy (not her real name) spent most of the day doing chores and taking care of her children. Then she would go to the fish port in the evening and work until 3 a.m.

“My ex rarely helped out in the chores,” Amy said. To make matters worse, her alcoholic husband beat her up almost every week.  

Breaking up with her abusive husband was easier said than done. “Where will I go? Who will look after my children when I go to work?” Amy asked. 

According to Oxfam International, chores like cleaning and cooking, as well as looking after children and elders, are crucial to “human and social well-being.” Yet the responsibility often falls disproportionately on women and girls . 

“In the Philippines, Oxfam’s assessment shows that women [were] twice as much more likely to carry the burden of household tasks, even before the pandemic,” said Leah Payud, Oxfam Pilipinas resilience portfolio manager.

Unpaid care work has prevented many women and children from pursuing education and career opportunities, trapping them in a cycle of poverty. 

Juggling chores, caregiving, and work kept Amy from attending to her own needs. She wanted to work as a masseuse but could not find the time to enroll in a short course. 

Last year, on the first night of the government-imposed lockdown, Amy’s husband was locked in jail after stabbing her while she prepared dinner. As her toxic relationship with her husband ended, Amy faced a new ordeal. 

She now has to raise three sons by herself in a small tent in Smokey Mountain, a former dumpsite in Tondo, Manila.

Amy was also among the millions of Filipinos who lost their jobs during the pandemic.

She lined up for food donations and walked to nearby wet markets to convince vendors to hire her, but no one would. 

After learning about her situation, Amy’s pastor raised the idea of sending her children to the church’s foster care program accredited by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The pastor assured her that she could reunite with her children once she found a job.

“It was a tough decision to make,” Amy admitted. “I wanted to be with my sons but I couldn’t afford the life that they deserve.”

Increased Burden

Amid the pandemic, time spent on household work for both men and women increased, according to COVID-19 Rapid Gender Assessment (RGA) conducted by several NGOs and civil society groups led by Oxfam, as well as the United Nations. However, women still shouldered the bulk of the housework. 

“The pandemic exacerbates the care work burdens carried by solo parents, women from indigenous groups, and those enrolled in the government’s social protection program,” Payud said. 

“Care work should be everyone’s responsibility. Men contributing more to household chores and care tasks should be sustained as we create a ‘better normal’ within a just society,” she added. 

Like Amy, Lucila Buladaco depended on government financial assistance and food rations during the strict lockdowns. She and her husband lost their jobs during the first few months of the pandemic. 

Due to her heart condition, Lucila was advised by the doctor to refrain from strenuous activities. Her husband, son, nephew, and nieces took turns in doing housework. 

Lucila realized a long time ago that she could not simply rely on one “breadwinner.” She was in fifth grade when her father passed away. Her mother, who was a housewife throughout her married life, struggled to find a job.    “I had to drop out of school and work as a house helper so I could send money to my family,” Lucila said. 

She wanted to go back to school but never got the chance when her mother died a few years later. 

Breaking the cycle

As the government began to ease the lockdowns last year, Lucila and her neighbor pooled in their resources to put up a food stall.

“We try to save money so we can survive the months where we can’t open our food stall because of the lockdown,” Lucila says. 

Lucila also sets aside some money so her son, nephew, and nieces can go back to school when the pandemic is over.

“I want them to be able to stand on their own,” Lucila said.

Amy agreed to send her children to foster care. 

“The church provides my children with food, clothes, and education,” she said. “I’m happy that my sons can finally read, write, and speak in English. They even talk to me in English when we speak through video calls.”

Still, Amy misses her sons every single day.

Amy (not her real name) sobs as she recalls the day she bid goodbye to her sons at their home in Smokey Mountain on March 28, 2021. Her pastor offered to help her sons through a foster care program accredited by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

In this photograph taken on May 14, 2020, Amy shows the wounds left by her ex-partner, who stabbed her on March 15 when the lockdown began in Metro Manila. Despite her ex-partner's abusive behavior, breaking up was not an easy decision to make. Amy was worried that no one would take care of her children when she went to work. 

Amy shows a card that one of her sons made at a foster home in Cainta, Rizal. Her three sons are now able to speak English, write, and read. The foster care was able to give her sons the life that Amy couldn't afford.

Amy shows a photo of two of her sons on her church's brochure on April 9, 2021. It’s the only picture of her sons that she was able to keep at her Smokey Mountain home. When her pastor visits her, he sets up a video call so she can talk to her sons.

Amy bonds with her neighbors' children at Smokey Mountain in Manila on April 9, 2021. She admits that she misses her sons whenever she sees children playing outside.

Amy makes her way to her home at Smokey Mountain, a former dumpsite in Manila, on April 9, 2021. When her sons left for foster care, Amy's neighbor offered her a room where she could live for free, in exchange for helping with household chores.

Due to her heart condition, Lucila Buladaco uses a portable oxygen cylinder at her home in Smokey Mountain, Manila on March 27, 2021. Her doctor discouraged her from performing strenuous activities. At home, her family, nephew, and nieces do most of the chores.

Lucila's nieces Jessilyn and Trixxie clean the house before they open their food stall at Smokey Mountain in Manila on March 17, 2021. Lucila says her husband, son, nephew, and nieces help keep the house clean. They also take turns manning the food stall.

Lucila, her nieces, and neighbors attend to their food stall at Smokey Mountain in Manila on March 17, 2021. They pooled their resources to set up the small food stall so they could earn money during the pandemic.

Lucila and her family prepare for lunch on a Sunday afternoon, March 28, 2021. Due to her heart condition, she was advised by her doctor to refrain from strenuous activities. Her son, husband, nieces, and nephew help her do the chores. 

Trixxie tells her Aunt Lucila that she aced a test at the learning center on March 17, 2021. When the lockdown eased, Trixxie attended a short course on reading and writing in a learning center run by volunteers. Lucila is supportive of Trixxie. She wants to make sure that her son, nieces, and nephew finish their education.

Lucila Buladaco visits her nieces at their food stall in Smokey Mountain on March 27, 2021. Last year, her employer decided to close the salon where she worked – for good – because of the pandemic. When the lockdown eased, she and her neighbors put up a roadside food stall where they sold snacks to earn money.

This story is one of the twelve photo essays produced under the Capturing Human Rights fellowship program, a seminar and mentoring project

organized by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and the Photojournalists' Center of the Philippines. 

Check the other photo essays here.

Larry Monserate Piojo – "Terminal: The constant agony of commuting amid the pandemic"

Orange Omengan – "Filipinos face the mental toll of the Covid-19 pandemic"

Lauren Alimondo – "In loving memory"

Gerimara Manuel – "Pinagtatagpi-tagpi: Mother, daughter struggle between making a living and modular learning"

Pau Villanueva – "Hinubog ng panata: The vanishing spiritual traditions of Aetas of Capas, Tarlac"

Bernice Beltran – "Women's 'invisible work'"

Dada Grifon – "From the cause"

Bernadette Uy – "Enduring the current"

Mark Saludes – "Mission in peril"

EC Toledo – "From sea to shelf: The story before a can is sealed"

Ria Torrente – "HIV positive mother struggles through the Covid-19 pandemic"

Sharlene Festin – "Paradise lost"

PCIJ's investigative reports

THE SHRINKING GODS OF PADRE FAURA | READ .

7 MILLION HECTARES OF PHILIPPINE LAND IS FORESTED – AND THAT'S BAD NEWS | READ   

FOLLOWING THE MONEY: PH MEDIA LESSONS FOR THE 2022 POLL | READ

DIGGING FOR PROFITS: WHO OWNS PH MINES? | READ

THE BULACAN TOWN WHERE CHICKENS ARE SLAUGHTERED AND THE RIVER IS DEAD | READ  

Photo essay: Equality is our goal, access is our right

Date: 01 March 2019

A bus to get to work. A clinic for health care. A monthly pension for old age. Some people can take these for granted. But many others suffer from the lack of infrastructure, public services and social protection that affect their rights and well-being. Women and girls are often foremost among those who miss out.

Progress and real development will only be possible if all people have equal rights and opportunities to thrive. Meeting that goal requires recognizing that women and girls face particular barriers and have different needs. And then taking deliberate steps so that no woman or girl is left behind, regardless of where she lives or how much she earns, or where she comes from.

Infrastructure can provide a way out of poverty and increase the chance of a better future. When there is a lack of infrastructure, communities around the world depend on women to close the gaps with their time-consuming, back-breaking labour.

“I leave home by 7 a.m. to come here by bike. I work until 1 p.m. If there’s no bike to take me back, I walk back home. It can take 2 – 3 hours and I am usually very tired by then. Because of the distance, I cannot carry anything if I am walking back,” says Mohn Malambi, a member of SOCCOMAD, a newly formed women’s cooperative in Yoko, central Cameroon.

Women in this community have grown food for generations but didn’t have land right or access to markets to sell the food they grew. Three years ago, the Government of Cameroon started to build a 250 Km (155 mile) road that would connect rural communities like Yoko with the capital. The women farmers of Yoko seized their moment to start a cooperative, knowing that the road project would bring more people to the area and create access to larger markets for their produce.

“The cassava crop cannot be left in the ground too long, because it rots,” says 52-year-old Tukuri Marie Chantal. It’s a simple equation—with land ownership and better roads, it takes less time and costs less to transport produce, and that means more income for women farmers.

The city of Jakarta, Indonesia, gleams with new buildings and other amenities. Yet safety in public spaces is a concern for women there. Fears about harassment and assault may keep women from using urban transport and other infrastructure even if they have ready access to it. Measures such as bright lighting and visible passageways help alleviate their concerns. With UN Women’s support, the Safe Jakarta project is aimed at pinpointing and closing safety gaps.

In disaster-prone Fiji, recovery efforts after Tropical Cyclone Winston had to involve women, especially the women vendors of Rakiraki Market. “For most of us women market vendors, we focus only on coming to the market to make money. But what if there is a cyclone or flooding that makes it impossible for us to be in the market?” says Varanisese Maisamoa, President of the Rakiraki Market Vendors Association.

The women vendors’ insights informed the market reconstruction to include Category-5 cyclone resilient infrastructure, a rain water harvesting system, flood resistant drainage, and a gender-responsive design.

“I’m looking forward to a market that is safer, better ventilated, with facilities such as changing areas for babies, improved toilets and a female market attendant. Our vendors also know what to do before, during and after a disaster,” Maisamoa added . Read more ►

Communities without electrical grids are increasingly turning to solar devices to jumpstart access to modern energy. Martha Benavente learned to make simple, low-cost solar lamps through a programme supported by UN Women and the governments of Norway and Sweden in a small community in Guatemala. Selling the lamps provides a source of income. Using them in her own home has ended the days when she would race to finish chores before dark because it was too costly to burn candles. Read Martha’s full story ►

Education is a human right and an essential public service with lifelong consequences. Yet many girls still struggle to get an education. In Khayelitsha, the largest informal township in Cape Town, South Africa, girls at the Yomelela Primary School contend with severe poverty and acute risks of violence. With the backing of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, sports and peer counselling are among the methods that help them cope, feel safe and stay in school.

As the fourth industrial revolution unfolds, the future of jobs will be defined by innovation. While more girls are attending school than before, girls are significantly under-represented in STEM subjects in many settings. The first Coding Camp in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, brought together girls from 34 countries in the African continent to nurture their potential as innovators and technology creators. 

What happens when girls get equal access to technology? They build.

“We are trying to build a drone that is controlled by SMS messaging that will be able to dispense medicine in rural areas,” shared 15-year-old participant Eno Ekanem. Read more ►

In the Republic of North Macedonia, many girls and boys with disabilities are still segregated in separate schools; a very low percentage reach university. Activist Elena Kochovska is fighting for their greater inclusion in education and employment. Read her full story ►

Health-care services should reach all women and provide all the services they need. Yet, too many women still die giving birth, especially in poorer countries where services may be limited and poor in quality. With 1,072 maternal deaths for every 100,000 births, Liberia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. In the remote areas, infrastructure and facilities in clinics are often lacking; midwives and health-care workers have to deliver babies without any electricity at night.

“It’s really challenging to assist with a delivery using my phone’s light, because I can’t see clearly. I have to hold the phone in my mouth while working. Doing [medical] procedures at night is almost impossible,” explains midwife Lorina Karway.

A UN joint programme installed solar lighting systems in 26 health centres and in five maternal waiting rooms in rural Liberia, including the Bodowhea Clinic, where Karway works, to improve maternal and child health-care services. Read more ►

Low-cost, readily accessible legal aid upholds the rights of poorer women, in particular, to obtain justice as well as essential public services. In Kazakhstan, UN Women has trained legal advocates like Natalia Minayeva. They help women living with HIV solve legal issues and find social assistance, including to end drug dependency. Read more ►

Green, open spaces where everyone can convene, relax and take a break may be taken for granted in some parts of the world. For women and girls in Al-Shoka, a conflict affected neighbourhood in Gaza, Palestine, this was a distant dream, until now. In 2018, the only public garden in Al-Shoka, which was destroyed by the conflict, opened to the public. What’s more, it was re-designed by three female architects and a group of young people from the community to be a truly inclusive space. Read about the female architects who redesigned the garden ►

Limited access to childcare remains a major barrier for women seeking paid jobs, underscoring the importance of providing quality public childcare. Time-use surveys in Uruguay revealed that women spent two-third of their week doing unpaid work, and only one-third on paid work. For men, the reverse applied. The data made Uruguay rethink “care” as an issue that impacts the society and ultimately, led to the adoption of a new law in 2015. Under the Care Act (No. 19,353), all children, persons with disabilities and elderly persons, have the right to get care. The State not only provides care services now, but also guarantees their quality by providing training and regulations.

Soledad Rotella is one of the many mothers benefiting from the new law. Since quality and free day care is available for her 2-year-old daughter, Kiara Rotella can get a full-time job without risking the wellbeing of her daughter. Read the full story ►

Longer, healthier lives are now the norm in many countries, an indisputable sign of progress. By 2030, over 16 per cent of people will be over age 60, compared to just over 8 percent in 1970. Pension systems are expanding to support people in old age. Yet women are less likely to be covered and generally receive less than men, even as they live longer on average. In Viet Nam, Phung Thi Vinh spent a lifetime as a primary school teacher but only began contributing to social insurance late in her career. A government programme helped her catch up. “My pensions payments are small,” she says. “But they help keep body and soul together.”

This photo essay has been adapted from a UN Women photo exhibition at the UN Headquarters in New York, running from 7 March - 27 March

• ‘One Woman’ – The UN Women song
• UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous
• Kirsi Madi, Deputy Executive Director for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships
• Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Deputy Executive Director for Normative Support, UN System Coordination and Programme Results
• Guiding documents
• Report wrongdoing
• Programme implementation
• Career opportunities
• Application and recruitment process
• Meet our people
• Internship programme
• Procurement principles
• Gender-responsive procurement
• Doing business with UN Women
• How to become a UN Women vendor
• Contract templates and general conditions of contract
• Vendor protest procedure
• Facts and Figures
• Global norms and standards
• Women’s movements
• Parliaments and local governance
• Constitutions and legal reform
• Preguntas frecuentes
• Global Norms and Standards
• Macroeconomic policies and social protection
• Sustainable Development and Climate Change
• Rural women
• Employment and migration
• Facts and figures
• Creating safe public spaces
• Spotlight Initiative
• Essential services
• Focusing on prevention
• Research and data
• Other areas of work
• UNiTE campaign
• Conflict prevention and resolution
• Building and sustaining peace
• Young women in peace and security
• Rule of law: Justice and security
• Women, peace, and security in the work of the UN Security Council
• Preventing violent extremism and countering terrorism
• Planning and monitoring
• Humanitarian coordination
• Crisis response and recovery
• Disaster risk reduction
• Inclusive National Planning
• Public Sector Reform
• Tracking Investments
• Strengthening young women's leadership
• Economic empowerment and skills development for young women
• Action on ending violence against young women and girls
• Engaging boys and young men in gender equality
• Sustainable development agenda
• Leadership and Participation
• National Planning
• Violence against Women
• Access to Justice
• Regional and country offices
• Regional and Country Offices
• Liaison offices
• UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change
• Commission on the Status of Women
• Economic and Social Council
• General Assembly
• Security Council
• High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
• Human Rights Council
• Climate change and the environment
• Other Intergovernmental Processes
• World Conferences on Women
• Global Coordination
• Regional and country coordination
• Promoting UN accountability
• Gender Mainstreaming
• Coordination resources
• UN Coordination Library
• System-wide strategy
• Focal Point for Women and Gender Focal Points
• Entity-specific implementation plans on gender parity
• Laws and policies
• Strategies and tools
• Reports and monitoring
• Training Centre services
• Publications
• Government partners
• National mechanisms
• Civil Society Advisory Groups
• Benefits of partnering with UN Women
• Business and philanthropic partners
• Goodwill Ambassadors
• National Committees
• UN Women Media Compact
• UN Women Alumni Association
• Editorial series
• Media contacts
• Annual report
• Progress of the world’s women
• SDG monitoring report
• World survey on the role of women in development
• Reprint permissions
• Secretariat
• 2023 sessions and other meetings
• 2022 sessions and other meetings
• 2021 sessions and other meetings
• 2020 sessions and other meetings
• 2019 sessions and other meetings
• 2018 sessions and other meetings
• 2017 sessions and other meetings
• 2016 sessions and other meetings
• 2015 sessions and other meetings
• Compendiums of decisions
• Reports of sessions
• Key Documents
• Brief history
• CSW snapshot
• Preparations
• Official Documents
• Official Meetings
• Side Events
• Session Outcomes
• CSW65 (2021)
• CSW64 / Beijing+25 (2020)
• CSW63 (2019)
• CSW62 (2018)
• CSW61 (2017)
• Member States
• Eligibility
• Registration
• Opportunities for NGOs to address the Commission
• Communications procedure
• Grant making
• Accompaniment and growth
• Results and impact
• Knowledge and learning
• Social innovation
• UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women
• About Generation Equality
• Generation Equality Forum
• Action packs

Childhood and Intergenerational Poverty: The Long-Term Consequences of Growing Up Poor

• Publication Type   Report  
• Post date November, 2009

Download PDF

Introduction

Children growing up in low-income families face many challenges that children from more advantaged families do not. These children are more likely to experience multiple family transitions, move frequently, and change schools. The schools they attend are less well funded, and the neighborhoods they live in are more disadvantaged. The parents of these children have fewer resources to invest in them and, as a consequence, their homes have fewer cognitively-stimulating materials, and their parents invest less in their education. The stress of living in poverty and struggling to meet daily needs can also impair parenting.

Social and economic deprivation during childhood and adolescence can have a lasting effect on individuals, making it difficult for children who grow up in low-income families to escape poverty when they become adults. Because the negative effects of deprivation on human development tend to cumulate, individuals with greater exposure to poverty during childhood are likely to have more difficulty escaping poverty as adults. In this research brief, we examine patterns of exposure to poverty during childhood and the association between these patterns and poverty in early and middle adulthood. Data for this study come from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), which collects information on the social and economic status of PSID families and their offspring every year.

We find that individuals who grow up in poor families are much more likely to be poor in early adulthood. Moreover, the chances of being poor in early adulthood increase sharply as the time spent living in poverty during childhood increases. At all levels of poverty during childhood, African-Americans are more likely than whites to be poor in early and middle adulthood.

“The American Dream” is rooted in the idea of upward mobility, the idea that individuals and families can escape the confines of poverty and disadvantage through hard work and perseverance. How widespread is upward mobility across generations? How do parents’ socioeconomic characteristics influence their children’s success? Do children from more affluent families remain at the top of the economic structure? Are poor children able to escape poverty as adults? How does race impact income mobility, especially mobility out of poverty? Intergenerational economic mobility is a key indicator of the degree of equality of opportunity in a society. Even though the limited availability of long-term, longitudinal data makes economic mobility research challenging, social scientists have been studying intergenerational mobility for some time.

A number of researchers have investigated intergenerational economic mobility by examining the correlation between parents’ and children’s income and earnings. For example, Becker and Tomes report a weak correlation (0.2) between parents’ and children’s incomes. By the 1990s, other researchers’ estimates of the intergenerational income correlation were stronger (closer to 0.4). Mazumder, however, contends that traditional approaches to measuring the correlation between parents’ and children’s income and earnings tend to systematically underestimate this relationship, leading researchers to conclude that there is greater economic mobility in the United States than actually takes place. Using Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) earnings data, Mazumder estimates a stronger correlation between parents’ and children’s earnings to be 0.6. Thus, the literature suggests that the actual correlation between parents’ and children’s income ranges from 0.4 to 0.6, suggesting that intergenerational economic mobility in the U.S. is lower than previous studies found. Mayer and Lopoo caution that all estimates of an intergenerational income or earning correlation can vary depending on the time frame used by the researchers.

Recently, Isaacs’ analysis of income mobility using data from the PSID differentiates between the absolute and relative economic mobility of children. For example, she reports that two-thirds of adult Americans earn more than their parents did 30 years earlier. Thus, in absolute terms, most adult children eventually have greater incomes than their parents. Isaacs, however, also finds that relative income mobility among children is limited. That is, children who were born to families at the top of the income structure have the highest probability of being in the highest income strata as adults, while those born at the bottom have the highest probability of being poor as adults. Isaacs suggests that “about half of the difference in income between families in one generation persists into the next generation.”

Studies focusing on the intergenerational transmission of poverty find that while individuals can break out of intergenerational cycles of poverty, they are less likely to do so than is commonly thought. Moreover, when subsequent generations do escape poverty they are likely to move into the ranks of the slightly less poor. Poverty exits depend on numerous factors such as educational and employment opportunities, the availability of role models, and child and parent aspirations, as well as a child’s birth order and when in the child’s life poverty occurs.

Researchers also find that the intergenerational correlation between incomes and earnings vary widely by race. For example, according to Hertz, 17 percent of whites who were born in the lowest income category between 1942 and 1972 remained there as adults while 42 percent of African-Americans did so. Similarly, in a separate study, Isaacs finds that not only do African-American children live in families with lower average incomes than whites, but “African-Americans experience less upward mobility and more downward mobility than whites.” In general, scholars have found that race matters a great deal in intergenerational economic mobility.

Although researchers have examined how having poor parents influences the chances of being poor as an adult and how the timing of poverty in childhood influences economic success in adulthood, little attention has been given to understanding how the duration of exposure to poverty during childhood influences the chances of being poor in early and middle adulthood. In this study, we use data from the PSID to examine individuals’ patterns of exposure to poverty during childhood and how these patterns are associated with poverty status at the ages of 20, 25, 30, and 35. Because earlier studies have found stark racial differences in patterns of exposure to poverty and intergenerational poverty, we examine these patterns and associations separately for whites and African-Americans.

Data and Methods

We use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to study intergenerational poverty. The PSID is a publicly-available, nationally representative panel study conducted annually or bi-annually since 1968 by the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. In the PSID, individuals from original sample households are re-interviewed every year, whether or not they are living in the same dwelling or with the same people. Adults are followed as they grow older, and children are observed as they advance through childhood and into adulthood, forming family units of their own. This procedure produces an unbiased sample of families each year as well as a continuously representative sample of children born into families each year. As of 2005, the PSID data included longitudinal information on 67,271 individuals who were either members of one of the original sample families, the offspring of one of those individuals, or their co-residents.

Our sample includes all white and African-American children born into responding sample families between 1970 and 1990. Because the PSID sampled the original families in 1968, the data include too few Latinos to compute reliable and representative estimates for this population. The youngest individuals in our sample were born in 1990 and were age 15 at the time of the 2005 interview. The oldest individuals were 35 at the time of the last interview. Individuals with poverty information available for fewer than half of the study years were excluded from the analysis. Sample attrition has been modest and has not generally affected the representativeness of the sample. Nonetheless, sampling weights that accounted for attrition were employed in all analyses.

Recently, Grieger, Danziger, and Schoeni developed a strategy for constructing poverty measures using the PSID that are comparable to official Census Bureau estimates using the Current Population Survey. We use this new strategy (called PSID-4 by the authors) to construct poverty indicators for each individual for each year of their childhood (ages birth to 15 years old) and for the ages of 20, 25, 30, and 35 years old. We then use these poverty indicators to compute the percentage of childhood years spent living in poverty (<100 percent Federal Poverty Line). All results presented below are weighted using the PSID individual-level core sample weights.

Poverty During Childhood

Exposure to poverty during childhood varies widely (see Figure 1). Most children (65 percent) never experience poverty between the ages of birth and 15 years old. Of those who are poor at some point during their childhood and early adolescence, most (69 percent) are poor for less than half of that time. However, one in 10 children spend at least half of childhood living in poverty and 6.4 percent are poor for three-quarters or more of childhood. On average, a child spends nearly 14 percent of his or her childhood living in poverty. Children who were ever poor during childhood spend an average of 47 percent of childhood living in poverty.

African-American children and younger children are more likely to experience poverty than white children and older children. While nearly three-quarters of white children never experience poverty during their childhood, fewer than one-third of African-American children are never poor (see Figure 1). Nearly one-quarter of African-American children live in poverty for more than three-fourths of their childhood and more than one-third are poor for at least half of their childhood. On average, a white child spends only 8.9 percent of childhood living in poverty. By contrast, an African-American child is poor for nearly two-fifths of childhood on average. For both white and African-American children, the chances of being poor declines slowly but steadily between early and late childhood (see Figure 2).

Intergenerational Poverty: The Consequences of Growing Up Poor

Adults who were poor during childhood are much more likely to be poor in early and middle adulthood than are those who were never poor (see Table 1). Few adults who did not experience poverty during childhood are poor in early and middle adulthood. At ages 20, 25, and 30, only four to five percent of those adults who were never poor during their childhood live in poverty. At age 35, less than one percent are poor.

Poverty rates for adults who were poor during childhood are much higher, especially for those individuals with high levels of exposure to poverty during childhood. For adults who experienced low-to-moderate levels of poverty during childhood (one to 50 percent of childhood years), 12 to 13 percent are poor at ages 20 and 25 and seven to eight percent are poor at ages 30 and 35. For adults who experienced moderate-to-high levels of poverty during childhood (51 to 100 percent of childhood years), between 35 percent and 46 percent are poor throughout early and middle adulthood.

At comparable levels of exposure to poverty during childhood, African-Americans are more likely than whites to be poor throughout early and middle adulthood. For example, while 0.5 to five percent of whites who were never poor during childhood are poor in their 20s and early 30s, five to eight percent of African-Americans with no exposure to poverty during childhood are poor. At higher levels of poverty exposure during childhood, the differences between African-American and white poverty rates in adulthood are starker. At low-to-moderate levels of poverty exposure during childhood, four to 11 percent of whites are poor in early and middle adulthood, but 19 to 30 percent of African-Americans are poor. At moderate-to-high levels of childhood poverty exposure, 42 to 51 percent of African-Americans are poor as adults, but only 25 to 40 percent of whites are poor. African-Americans are, therefore, doubly disadvantaged relative to whites. On one hand, they have greater exposure to poverty during childhood than whites. On the other hand, at similar levels of exposure to poverty during childhood, they are more likely to be poor as adults. It also appears that low-to-moderate levels of poverty have a particularly disproportionate impact on African-Americans’ mobility as compared to whites.

Our examination of PSID data indicates that while most children never experience poverty, 35 percent of children born between 1970 and 1990 experienced poverty between birth and age 15. We also find that African-American children are more likely to experience poverty than are white children. These results have implications for adults: Individuals who were poor during childhood are more likely to be poor as adults than are those who were never poor, and this is especially true for African-Americans. Consequently, intergenerational poverty and persistent disadvantage impedes individuals’ ability to achieve the American Dream. Though there is considerable upward mobility in the United States, escaping poverty is difficult, and racial disadvantages mean that mobility out of poverty for African-Americans is far more difficult than it is for whites.

1. Duncan, Greg J.; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne. 1997. Consequences of Growing Up Poor. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

2. Teachman, Jay D. 2008. The Living Arrangements of Children and Their Educational Well-being. Journal of Family Issues 29(6): 734-761.

3. Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne; Duncan, Greg J.; Aber, J. Lawrence. 2000. Neighborhood Poverty: Policy Implications in Studying Neighborhoods. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

4. Haveman, Robert; Wolfe, Barbara. 1994. Succeeding Generations: On the Effects of Investments in Children. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

5. Yeung, W. J.; Linver, M. R.; Brooks-Gunn. J. 2002. How money matters for young children’s development: Parental Investment and Family Processes. Child Development.

6. Corcoran, Mary. 1995. Rags to Rags: Poverty and Mobility in the United States. Annual Review of Sociology 21: 237-267. Ashenfelter, Orley; Card, David (eds.) 1999. Intergenerational Mobility in the Labor Market, Amsterdam: North-Holland. Handbook of Labor Economics 3A: 1761-1800.

7. Beginning in 1997, the PSID reinterviewed families biennially.

8. Isaacs, Julia B.; Sawhill, Isabel V.; Haskins, Ron. 2008. Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

9. Hertz, Tom. 2007. Trends in the Intergenerational Elasticity of Family Income in the United States. Industrial Relations 46: 22-50.

10. Becker, Gary S.; Tomes, Nigel. 1986. Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families. Journal of Labor Economics 4: S1-S39.

11. Solon, Gary. 1992. Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States. American Economic Review 82:393-408.

Zimmerman, David J. 1992. Regression Toward Mediocrity in Economic Stature. American Economic Review 82: 409-429.

For fuller discussions of this research see Corcoran in endnote 6 and Mazumder, Bhashkar. 2005a. Fortunate Sons: New Estimates of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States Using Social Security Earnings Data. The Review of Economics and Statistics 87: 235-255.

14. See also: Hertz, Tom. 2005. Rags, Riches, and Race: The Intergenerational Economic Mobility of Black and White Families in the United States. pp. 165-191, in Unequal Chances: Family Background and Economic Success, Bowles, Samuel; Gintis, Herbert; Osborne, Groves, Melissa; eds. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Mazumder, Bhashkar. 2005b. The Apple Falls Even Closer to the Tree than We Thought: New and Revised Estimates of the Intergenerational Inheritance of Earnings. pp. 80-99, in Unequal Chances: Family Background and Economic Success, Bowles, Samuel; Gintis, Herbert; Groves, Melissa Osborne, eds. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

15. Mayer, Susan E.; Lopoo, Leonard M. 2005. Has the Intergenerational Transmission of Economic Status Changed? The Journal of Human Resources 40: 169-185.

16. See endnote 8.

17. Harper, Caroline; Marcus, Rachel; Moore, Karen. 2003. Enduring Poverty and the Conditions of Childhood: Life Course and Intergenerational Poverty Transitions. World Development 31(3): 535-554.

18. Rodgers, Joan R. 1995. An Empirical Study of Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty in the United States. Social Science Quarterly 76(1): 178-194.

Yaqub, S. 2000. Intertemporal Welfare Dynamics: Extents and Causes. Conference paper presented at Globalization: New Opportunities, New Vulnerabilities. Brookings Institution/Carnegie Endowment Workshop. [http://www.ceip.org/files/pdf/shahin_dynamics.pdf].

19. Glewwe, P.; H. Jacoby; King, E. 1999. Early Childhood Nutrition and Academic Achievement: A Longitudinal Analysis. Discussion Paper No. 68. Washington, DC: IFPRI/FCND.

20. See endnote 1.

Wagmiller, Robert; Lennon, Mary Clare; Kuang, Li; Alberti, Philip; Aber, J. Lawrence. 2006. Dynamics of Family Economic Disadvantage and Children’s Life Chances. American Sociological Review 71(5): 847-866.

21. See endnote 9: 165.

22. See endnote 8: 73-75.

23. See endnote 17.

24. See endnote 1.

25. See endnote 13; endnote 19: Wagmiller et al.

26. Duncan, Greg J.; Hill, Daniel H. 1989. Assessing the quality of household panel survey data: The case of the PSID. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics7(4): 441-51; Hill, Martha. 1992. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics – A User’s Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

27. Grieger, Lloyd D.; Danziger, Sheldon; Schoeni, Robert F. 2007. Estimating and Benchmarking the Trend in the Poverty Rate from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Ann Arbor, MI: PSID Technical Series Paper #07-03. [http://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/Publications/Papers/tsp/2007-03_Estimating_and_Benchmarking_the_Trends.pdf].

28. We examine the time spent living in poverty between the age 0 and 15 years for several reasons. First, some children leave their parent’s families between the ages of 16 and 18 years making it difficult to classify these children’s family poverty status in the latter stages of childhood. Second, this interval allows us to construct equal width 5-year intervals. Third, other researchers studying the timing of poverty during childhood have used these intervals.

Duncan, Greg J., Yeung, W. Jean, Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne and Smith, Judith R.. 1998. How Much Does Childhood Poverty Affect the Life Chances of Children? American Sociological Review 63: 406-23.

29. We also conducted the analysis based on different birth cohorts and there are some variations across age cohort. However, it was not possible to examine intergenerational poverty for all birth cohorts because later cohorts are not old enough to be observed as adults.

The Glasgow Effect: examining the city's life expectancy gap – a photo essay

Documentary photographer Kirsty Mackay examines the causes of the ‘Glasgow Effect’ in a highly personal project. She looks at Glasgow’s excess mortality in comparison to the UK average and shifts the focus from the individual to government policy.

• The Fish That Never Swam will be published as a book later this year.

I n Glasgow people’s lives are cut short: male life expectancy in Possil is 66, in Penilee three young people took their own lives within the space of one week this June, suicide in Glasgow is 30% higher than in English cities, male life expectancy is seven years short of the UK average and women’s is four years less. This is not isolated to areas of deprivation – Glaswegians across all social classes experience a 15% reduction in life expectancy.

We have known about the “Glasgow Effect” for more than a decade. However, the root causes for Glasgow’s excess mortality are not in the public domain. The explanation lies in government policy – not with the individual and their lifestyle choices. Local and central government policies created an environment where segregation, alienation, mass unemployment, the generational trauma that followed, poverty and deprivation constitute a public health concern. During the 1970s and 80s Glasgow was in a “managed decline”. Unbeknown at the time, the city was starved of funding from Westminster.

Kirsty Mackay pictured with her parents in Maryhill, 1971. ‘This was the first flat I lived in.’

It was a Victorian tenement flat called a “room and kitchen”. We had this room and one bedroom; the toilet was on the landing shared with the neighbours.

Victorian tenement housing, Springburn, Glasgow.

In the post-war period Glasgow faced a housing crisis. The local council demolished a great deal of the existing tenements and built new, in the form of high rise and peripheral estates. Entire communities were broken up, people were rehoused on a large scale.

Children walk home from school, Drumchapel, Glasgow.

Glasgow Corporation used a form of social apartheid, rehousing the people of Glasgow by class. The least well-off were moved to the peripheral estates, with few amenities, poor transport links and fewer employment opportunities. These failed housing policies leave their mark on the landscape and in the lives of the people here.

Debbie holds her newborn baby, Anderston, Glasgow.

Debbie’s newborn baby asleep in the Scottish baby box, which provides a safe place to sleep and comes full of baby essentials.

In Glasgow, as everywhere else a person’s place of birth has a huge bearing on their overall life chances. That first journey home from the hospital, depending on which area home is, will have an impact on health, well being and life expectancy.

The box was introduced by the Scottish government in 2017 to tackle infant poverty rates and is designed to give each child born in Scotland “the best start in life”.

Billy with his cousin Ellie, Easterhouse.

Billy, 19, Easterhouse.

At school Billy’s teachers told him not to bother applying for university. He is now studying for a degree in politics. “The thing that has an effect is the perception that because you are from Easterhouse, you can’t do that sort of thing. If you look at the alternative; I’d be alone, I’d be in prison or I’d be dead,” he says.

A young man shows off his ‘carry- out’ of vodka outside Drumchapel shopping centre.

Glasgow was built on heavy industry, so when Thatcher came to power in 1979 it was hit particularly hard by the escalated, rapid decline in industry that created mass unemployment across west central Scotland.

A memorial in Possilpark for Steven Russell, murdered on this spot in 2017.

‘The harm done to one generation has repercussions long after that harm is first acted out. Those who perpetrated the social violence that was done to the lives of young men starting some 20 years ago are the prime suspects for most of the murders in Britain’ . Danny Dorling.

Kids with their dads, on the weekly Men Matter family walk in the countryside around Drumchapel.

Men Matter are a peer support and suicide prevention charity based in Drumchapel, one of Glasgow’s peripheral housing estates.

The Men Matter Football team play every week at Colquhoun park.

Life expectancy for men in Possilpark is 66. Male life expectancy varies by 12 years, depending on which side of the Drumchapel and Bearsden divide you come from.

Wee John, pictured on the border between the Drumchapel and Bearsden.

Kaitlin, 23, at home in Springburn.

“I’ve been diagnosed with a chronic illness, been through two blocks of therapy, left uni, started a new job,” she says. “I feel it in my bones that good things are going to happen for me soon. I am powerful amazing and ready.”

Children queue up for face painting at the Women Against Capitalism event in Castlemilk.

Women Against Capitalism is a grassroots organisation finding ways to redistribute essentials to members of their local community. Its Care and Share events give out free food, clothes, baby and child equipment, while providing fun and entertainment in the local shopping centre.

Dionne, 18, with her dad Barrie, Easterhouse.

Dionne is the Scottish women’s boxing champion, 2020. Barry has both his daughters’ names tattooed on his torso Dionne and Kecee-Leigh, who was stillborn. Dionne: “In 2019 at the start of the year I lost my auntie. Not long after that I lost a friend I grew up with. She was 16, just at the start of her life. I lost another of my friends. He was in a murder. He was 18 and then I lost another of my friends from Easterhouse.”

Premature mortality is defined as deaths under the age of 65.

Looking over Castlemilk, one of Glasgow’s big four peripheral housing estates, with the city in the distance.

Brought to light in 2000, through the freedom of information act, the UK government designated Glasgow in a “managed decline’. Like Detroit in the US and Liverpool in the UK. This economic policy deals with a city like you would a failing business, starving it of funding and running it into the ground. This policy was only reversed in the late 80s.

Kirsty Mackay with her parents, Glasgow, 1970.

In 2001 I lost my dad to cancer. He was 62. His death left me with many questions. Was he one of the 5,000 extra deaths that occur in Scotland each year? Did his environment have a bearing on his life expectancy? Do I carry the remnants of political policy in my own body? Will I pass this down to my own children? I was born and raised in Glasgow. My interest in this story comes from my personal connection. I am well placed to tell this story. I have both a strong emotional connection and a more objective point of view.

• The Guardian picture essay

Most viewed

The Geography of Poverty: Trip Three

Matt Black’s latest exploration of poverty in contemporary America

This article was originally published on Magnum Photos in 2016.

For his ongoing project The Geography of Poverty, Matt Black has traveled 48,000 miles across 44 US states, photographing designated “poverty areas,” communities whose poverty rates are in excess of 20%, and highlighting the country’s growing gap between rich and poor.

According to the Census Bureau’s measure of poverty —$11,490 annual income for one person or $23,550 for a family of four — over 43 million people qualify as poor in the US.   At the same time, the share of income going to the top one percent of the population has more than doubled since the 1970s.   At the very top, the richest 0.1 percent’s share of the national wealth has tripled.

The Geography of Poverty gives its focus to America’s most marginalized communities, from the deserts of the Southwest through the Black Belt in the South, to the post-industrial, former factory towns running Midwest and Northeast.   The work was presented as an interactive, digital package by MSNBC, with Black’s images geotagged to a map of the US.   The results are affecting:   if photography can help to humanize facts and numbers, the map emphasizes the scale of the problem, and the spotlight on individual plights becomes a floodlight on a country-wide issue.   Black was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for the project, as well as the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Prize.

Here, Black presents some key images, alongside excerpts from personal notes taken during their making.

Notebook:  Thursday, July 28, 2016, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

“I’ve heard from many who feel like the economy sure isn’t working for them. Some of you are frustrated – even furious. And you know what? You’re right.”

Hillary Clinton accepts the nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention.

"The crowd continues its chant: 'Revolution! Revolution! Revolution!'"

- matt black.

Notebook:  Thursday July 28, 2016, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

While groups of protesters strum guitars and chant “Election Fraud!” outside the gates to the Democratic National Convention, young men from the neighborhood push wheeled ice chests through the crowd, trying to make a buck. “Ice-cold soda, one dollar,” they shout. I speak to one of them. He turns out to be partially deaf:

How many did you sell?

“It was raining.”

How many do you think?

“Do I think?”

“Just a couple.”

Behind us, a man waves his arms in a circle, frantically, like a windmill, shouting, “What’s it all about?” The crowd continues its chant: “Revolution! Revolution! Revolution!”

Notebook:  Saturday, July 9, 2016, Lorain, Ohio

“LIBERTY – TRUTH – JUSTICE – EQUALITY” reads the inscription on an abandoned building on Broadway and W. 6th Street in downtown Lorain. U.S. Steel and Republic Steel quit operations this spring, and now are vacant hulks along the Black River. In an appliance store downtown, a woman says, “Everything is gone here.” Nearby, a billboard advertising for a law office reads: “Loss of income does not mean loss of home.”

"Now he lives in an old camp trailer half covered with tarps, a lopsided couch sitting next to his front door. "

Notebook:  Wednesday, May 18, 2016, Stockton, California

He lives in the same spot where I first met him three years before, next to a bend in the railroad tracks in a forgotten corner of downtown, but the little house he had constructed of discarded pallets and scrap lumber is gone, destroyed by the railroad company, he says. Now he lives in an old camp trailer half covered with tarps, a lopsided couch sitting next to his front door. He recycles scrap metal gathered from a little cart he affixes to his bicycle. “I make four, five, six dollars,” he says. “It’s better than nothing.”

"On the road outside of town, it is wide open, empty, windswept - like a ghost town minus the town"

Notebook:  Friday, August 26, 2016, Olathe, Colorado

Colorado is rich in the mountains, poor on the flats. The farm town of Olathe is ringed by a necklace of decaying mobile homes set against dry foothills. A Mexican grocery advertises nopales by the box, and the thrift store next door hangs secondhand quinceanera dresses in the front window. It’s payday, and men looking like they came straight from the surrounding farm fields gather in the parking lot of the town’s only bank, cashing their paychecks. On a bulletin board outside a market, a sign announces a prairie dog removal service. Next to it is a typed announcement by a man seeking “work of any kind.” Blue sky, puffy clouds, but against dry landscape dotted with gunsteel-blue sagebrush. On the road outside of town, it is wide open, empty, windswept – like a ghost town minus the town.

Notebook:  Williamsburg, Virginia

“[F]rom 1699 to 1780, Williamsburg was the political, cultural, and educational center of what was then the largest, most populous, and most influential of the American colonies. It was here that the fundamental concepts of our republic — responsible leadership, a sense of public service, self-government, and individual liberty — were nurtured under the leadership of patriots such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Peyton Randolph.”

— The History of Colonial Williamsburg

This photo essay is now available as a Magnum Distro: a full photographic story in an envelope containing eight 8×10” hand-stamped prints and a printed page detailing the story and captions, in a limited edition of 100.

Matt Black’s newsprint edition of the project Geography of Poverty is also available, signed, on the Magnum Shop. Quantities are highly limited.

Geography of Poverty: Trip Four

Theme | 18 Stories

Explore More

The Fall of Flint

Arts & Culture

Poverty and Mythologies

Highway Rest Stops

Carolyn drake.

LA Story: The 2016 US Presidential Election

Max pinckers.

Welcome to Canada

Thomas dworzak.

Of Mosquitoes and Men: The Condition of Puerto Rico

In Pictures: Trump’s Road to the White House

Magnum photographers.

Search site

Content type

Analysis and action on living standards

The generation of poverty: Poverty over the life course for different generations

22 May 2019

Poverty is an age-old problem, but its prevalence has shifted greatly over time. As inequality grew rapidly throughout the 1980s, relative poverty grew with it, peaking at 25 per cent in the mid-1990s. At this time, poverty was the hot-topic issue. However, attention had since begun to decline as shifts in the economic and policy backdrop meant that circumstances were improving. But today, with expectations of rising child poverty, and a broader debate about inequality gaining traction, the issue has re-entered mainstream public discourse.

The Generation of Poverty – a report funded by the Nuffield Foundation – examines how poverty has changed over the course of people’s lives over the last six decades. It notes that while, on average, people have been most likely to face poverty in early childhood or late retirement, patterns of lifetime poverty have changed considerably for different generations.

Key findings

• The relative poverty rate (after housing costs) for pensioners in their late 70s rose sharply in the 1980s and early 1990s, reaching almost 45 per cent at its height for the “greatest generation” who were born between 1911 and 1925.
• Pensioner poverty has since fallen rapidly, with relative poverty rates at age 70 more than halving to below 20 per cent for the next generation of pensioners – the “silent generation” born between 1926 and 1945.
• The poverty rate for the post-war “baby boomer” generation who are now entering retirement has fallen to 15 per cent – the lowest on record.
• Relative child poverty has been rising for those born over the last decade compared to their predecessors. Children born between 2016 and 2020 are facing the joint-highest rates of early years poverty in 60 years, with more than 35 per cent expected to be living in poverty at age two.

The “millennial generation” born between 1981 and 2000 are on course to face record rates of working-age poverty

Further reading

Mailing list, sign up below, i would like to receive:.

Event invitations Top of the Charts weekend-reading email Resolution Ventures newsletter

I consent to my data being used in line with the privacy policy

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• HHS Author Manuscripts

Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty and Inequality: Parental Resources and Schooling Attainment and Children's Human Capital in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam *

Jere r. behrman.

a Economics and Sociology Departments and Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Whitney Schott

b Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, USA

c Department of Economics and Center for International Policy Studies, Fordham University, and Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Benjamin T. Crookston

d Department of Health Science, Brigham Young University, USA

Kirk Dearden

e Department of International Health, School of Public Health, Boston University and Center for Global Health and Development, Boston University, USA

Le Thuc Duc

f Centre for Analysis and Forecasting, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam

Lia C. H. Fernald

g School of Public Health, University of California-Berkeley, USA

Aryeh D. Stein

h Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, USA

the Young Lives Determinants and Consequences of Child Growth Project Team

i The Young Lives Determinants and Consequences of Child Growth Project team includes, in addition to co-authors of this paper, Santiago Cueto, Javier Escobal, Shaik Galab, Andreas Georgiadis, Mary Penny, Tassew Woldehanna

Academic and policy literatures on intergenerational transmissions of poverty and inequality suggest that improving schooling attainment and income for parents in poor households will lessen poverty and inequality in their children's generation through increased human capital accumulated by their children. However, magnitudes of such effects are unknown. We use data on children born in the 21 st century in four developing countries to simulate how changes in parents’ schooling attainment and consumption would affect poverty and inequality in both the parent's and their children's generations. We find that increasing minimum schooling or income substantially reduces poverty and inequality in the parent's generation, but does not carry over to reducing poverty and inequality substantially in the children's generation. Therefore, while reductions in poverty and inequality in the parents’ generation are desirable in themselves to improve welfare among current adults, they are not likely to have large impacts in reducing poverty and particularly in reducing inequality in human capital in the next generation.

1. Introduction

The extent of intergenerational economic mobility has long been of considerable interest to policy makers, researchers, and social commentators. A strong component of this interest is whether there is intergenerational transmission of income/consumption poverty and inequality; that is, how likely are children from poor families to end up as adults in poor households because of limited investment in the children's human capital? A number of policy efforts are directed towards breaking the intergenerational transmission of poverty through increasing human capital investments in children from poor families. For example, Santiago Levy, the “father” of the wellknown Mexican PROGRESA/Opportunidades Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program on which many other programs have been explicitly modeled worldwide, states that the program's overall objective was “to break the vicious cycle of poverty” in which children of poor families become the next generation of adults in poor families ( Levy 2006 , p. 21). The primary goal of this and other CCT programs is to attempt to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty by improving the health and education of children in poor families today.

Policies thought to be promising to reduce poverty and inequality in the next generation of adults include ones that directly support greater investment in human capital of children of poor families, such as through CCTs, in hopes that such interventions will increase their earnings capacities and reduce the probabilities of these children living in poverty when they become adults and thereby also reduce inequality in their generation. There is also considerable emphasis on how improving the conditions of currently poor parents may not only improve their own welfare, but enhance the human capital of their children and, through this mechanism, reduce probabilities of their children living in poverty when they become adults and reduce inequality in that generation. For example, a recent influential World Bank study on inequalities of opportunities for children includes, inter alia, “[lack of] schooling of the family head [and low] per capita family income” as important limitations on poor children's opportunities ( Barros et al. 2009 , p. 59). Reports on the intergenerational transmission of poverty and inequality in developing countries by other international organizations, such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) ( Castañeda and Aldaz-Carroll 1999 ) and the U.K. Overseas Development Institute (ODI) ( Bird 2007 ), also emphasize the importance of family per capita income or consumption and parental schooling (particularly mothers’ schooling) among the critical factors that affect the intergenerational transmission of poverty and inequality in developing countries. The perspectives expressed in these papers suggest that there is a “virtuous cycle” in which a one-off reduction in poverty and inequality in one generation will carry over to future generations. 1

The empirical literature underlying the assumption that changes in such parental family characteristics can have important impacts on reducing poverty and inequality when the children become adults can be categorized into two broad groups 2 : First , intergenerational associations often indicate limited intergenerational mobility when schooling and long-run income are considered and, generally, less mobility in developing than in developed countries (e.g., Behrman et al. 2001 ; Black and Devereux 2010 ; Birdsall and Graham 2000 ; Corak 2006 ; Solon 1999 , 2002 ). Concomitantly, children whose families start at the bottom of income and consumption distributions are more likely than children whose families start higher to be poor when they become adults. Second , there are many empirical micro studies that report significant associations between parental family background, particularly parental schooling and family income, and investments in the human capital of children in developing countries. The papers cited in the previous paragraph give references to a number of these studies, as do various surveys, for example, Behrman and Knowles (1999) , Orazem and King (2008) , Strauss and Thomas (1998) , and Strauss and Thomas (2008) . These studies are widely interpreted to mean that increased parental schooling and income for poor families lead to increased human capital outcomes in their children, and thus lower rates of poverty and inequality in measures of human capital (and presumably consequently income) when the children become adults than otherwise would occur.

The literature summarized in the previous paragraph provides a strong basis for the assumption in the World Bank, IADB, and ODI reports noted above and elsewhere that higher parental schooling attainment and higher income/consumption for currently poor families are likely to improve human capital accumulated among their children and consequently, reduce the probabilities that the children in such families end up as poor adults and reduce inequality. However a critical question is how much increase in parental schooling and income is warranted for seeing desirable improvements in their children's generation. The Millennium Development Goals for example have targeted to: halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day, and ensure that every child is able to complete a full course of primary schooling. Our aim is to examine if such (and alternative) targets in one generation are sufficient to cause much improvements in the next. How much would the incidence of poverty and inequality in per capita income fall for the current adult generation if, for example, all parents had at least primary schooling? Or if all parents had at least 9 completed grades of schooling? Or if the per capita income/consumption of the households in the bottom of the distribution was increased to $1 a day or to that of the 20 th percentile? And more importantly for consideration of intergenerational transmissions, to what extent would these changes in parental schooling and per capita incomes/consumption for poor families translate to changes in the distributions of children's human capital, including the proportions below some “poverty” cutoffs and inequality? Ferreira and Leite (2004) simulate increases to schooling and literacy in order to examine the resulting changes to inequality in Brazil and find reductions in poverty but little change in inequality. To our knowledge, the answers to such questions for any other developing countries (or for developed countries) remain unknown.

Our contribution in this paper is to provide answers to such questions for children born in the 21 st century in four developing countries for which the data permit exploring these questions. To do so we develop and implement a combined estimation-simulation approach that allows exploration of impacts of changes in parental schooling and per capita consumption on poverty and inequality in the distribution of per capita consumption for the parent's generation and in the distribution of human capital for the children's generation. We investigate these questions for four quite different low- and middle-income countries – Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh), Peru, and Vietnam. For both parents and children, to characterize poverty we use headcount ratios and to characterize inequalities we use Gini coefficients and percentile ratios: 90 th percentile to that of the 10 th percentile (p90/p10) and 75 th percentile to that of the 25 th percentile (p75/p25). 3

We begin with a simple framework on human capital investment to help structure our investigation and note some possible biases in estimated intergenerational relations due to unobserved intergenerationally-correlated endowments and measurement errors. We then summarize our data, methods, results, and conclusions. A number of findings emerge from our analysis. First , consistent with much existing literature, there are strong positive associations between parental resources (as measured particularly by per capita consumption and parental schooling attainment) and children's human capital (cognitive outcomes and height). Second , increasing parental schooling to a minimum of primary schooling, that is, levels currently targeted by the Millennium Development Goals, does little to decrease the incidence of poverty and inequality in the parents’ generation. Whereas, increasing parental schooling to 9 completed grades and/or increasing per capita consumption to $1 a day does result in substantial reductions in both the prevalence of poverty and inequality in the parents’ generation. Third , similar increases in parental schooling (that is, to 9 completed grades) for parents with limited schooling and per capita consumption (that is, to $1 a day) for parents in the left tail of the distributions are predicted to reduce the prevalence of poverty (i.e., those to the left of some cutoff) in cognitive scores and height for their children but with the effects fairly small for inequality in cognitive scores and height. Therefore, while reducing poverty and inequality in the parents’ generation probably is desirable in terms of improving welfare among current adults, improving parental schooling and per capita consumption for parents in the left tail of the respective distributions are not likely to have large impacts on reducing poverty and inequality in the human capital accumulated in the next generation, and consequently unlikely to have large effects on poverty counts and inequality in their incomes and consumption as adults.

2. Human Capital Investment Framework

A standard human capital investment framework, as in the well-known Becker (1967) Woytinksy Lecture, suffices for the purpose of this study. Consider Figure 1 in which the expected private marginal benefits and expected private marginal costs are measured on the vertical axis and schooling investments in children are measured on the horizontal axis (though the same points hold for any human capital investments, including those in health and nutrition). The expected private marginal benefits are downward-sloping as schooling increases in the relevant range due to diminishing marginal returns to fixed abilities and pre-schooling investments. 4 The expected private marginal costs are increasing due to increasing private opportunity costs of more schooling in terms of other time-use options (e.g. working on family farms, caring for younger siblings) and possibly increasing marginal costs of financing current schooling investments given imperfect or missing capital markets for such investments. The equilibrium private investment in schooling S* is given by the intersection of the expected private marginal benefits and expected private marginal costs curves in Figure 1 , with the equilibrium expected private marginal benefits and expected private marginal costs equal to r*.

How do increased parental financial resources or incomes affect the equilibrium human capital investments in children? If capital markets for human capital investments were perfect, then increasing parental financial resources would do little to change the equilibrium investment made in children's schooling. However, in developing country contexts such as those under investigation in this study, capital markets for human capital are thought to be often quite imperfect and the private components of the marginal costs of such investments are generally thought to be primarily self-financed ( Foster, 1995 ). As a result, if credit constraints are alleviated including through increased family resources, the private marginal cost curve is likely to shift down, and the equilibrium investment in child schooling is likely to increase.

How does increased parental human capital affect the equilibrium human capital investments in children? Underlying the expected private marginal benefit curve in Figure 1 is a production function for earnings (or whatever outcomes are of interest) that includes as an input the schooling attainment the child will have as an adult. As the private returns (measured in earnings) to investment in schooling increases, the private marginal benefit curve will shift to the right, increasing equilibrium investment in children's schooling. Familial inputs play an important role in this process, including inter alia the quality of parental time spent in child stimulation particularly in early life and in help with homework when the children are of school age. 5 If these familial inputs are complementary with time in school as generally is thought to be the case, then greater parental human capital in the form say greater parental schooling attainment is likely to shift the expected private marginal benefit curve to the right, thus increasing the equilibrium investment in children's schooling.

Thus this simple framework predicts that increased parental financial and human capital resources in the contexts like those under consideration lead to increased investment in children's human capital. It is important to note, however, that this simple framework also points to a probable estimation challenge in ascertaining the impact of increased parental financial and human capital resources on investments in children's human capital. Underlying the expected private marginal benefits curve are intrinsic child endowments. These endowments range from innate ability and innate health to family connections for job and marriage markets. They are likely to enter directly into the production function determining the expected private marginal benefits. This means that the estimated relations between both parental financial and human capital resources on one hand and investments in children's human capital on the other hand may be biased as estimates of causality unless these endowments can be controlled in the estimation.

Though it is difficult to be absolutely sure without unbiased estimates of the underlying structural relations that determine investments in children (which limitations in the data do not permit us to undertake in this study), we perceive that the bias is likely to be upward if there are positive intergenerational correlations in such endowments so that parental endowments that are positively correlated with parental income/consumption and parental human capital are positively correlated with the children's endowments that are complementary with schooling in producing expected child marginal benefits. Empirical estimates on the impact of parental schooling on children's schooling attainment and schooling progression probability indeed generally report upward biases in estimated coefficients of parental schooling attainment in OLS relations in comparison with alternative estimates that control for unobserved parental characteristics/endogeneity of parental schooling (e.g., Lillard and Willis 1994 ; Behrman and Rosenzweig 2002 ; Black, Devereux and Salvanes 2005 ; Plug 2004 ).

We also note, as is well-known, that random measurement errors may cause biases towards zero. Some studies use reports of respondent's schooling from others (e.g., siblings or other relatives) in addition to reports from the respondents to estimate measurement error models and find estimated noise-to-signal ratios for adult schooling of 0.06–0.12 ( Ashenfelter and Krueger 1994 ; Ashenfelter and Rouse 1998 ; Behrman, Rosenzweig and Taubman 1994 ; Bielby, Hauser and Featherman 1977 ). With a noise-to-signal ratio of 0.12, the OLS estimated schooling coefficient is about 89% of the true value. The estimates closest to our specifications below between per capita consumption and cognitive scores that we have been able to find are estimates for the coefficients of annual expenditure per capita in relations determining Vietnamese children's exam scores in their last completed grade that are 92% as large in OLS estimates as when instrumented per capita income is used ( Behrman and Knowles 1999 ). 6 If the endowment biases are likely to be positive and the random measurement biases are negative, the overall biases could be in either direction.

We use data on children from Young Lives, a cross-national cohort panel study on poverty and child well-being conducted in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh), Peru, and Vietnam. Our analysis uses data on the younger cohort, who were born in the 21 st century, first surveyed in 2002 at ages 6-17.9 months (round 1) and subsequently followed through round 2 (2006-07) at about age 5 years, and round 3 (2009-10) at about age 8 years. These data permit estimates for four fairly different developing country contexts with comparable information on parental resources and schooling attainment over the early-life infant, pre-school, and initial school ages for children that are increasing emphasized as been critical for their longer-run development ( Almond and Currie 2011 ; Behrman et al. 2009 ; Cunha et al. 2006 ; Currie 2009 ; Currie and Vogl 2013 ; Engle et al. 2007 , 2011 ; Gertler et al. 2014 ; Heckman 2006 ; Hoddinott et al. 2008 , 2013a,b; Maluccio et al. 2009; Schady et al. 2015 ; Victora et al. 2008 ), as well as on the children's cognitive scores and heights as of age 8 years that we use to represent their human capital up to that age. 7 Sampling details are at http://www.younglives.org.uk . Comparisons with representative data suggest that the samples represent a variety of contexts in each of the countries studied, though under-represent the highest parts of the income distributions. We include all children for whom there are data available on two cognitive scores (PPVT and math, described below) in round 3. 8 Attrition rates are fairly low in the Young Lives panel study, less than 2% per annum (see Schott et. al 2013 ). Our final sample size is 6,915: 1,669 in Ethiopia, 1,787 in India, 1,748 in Peru, and 1,711 in Vietnam. The main outcome variables of interest in the children's regressions are measures of human capital, namely cognitive scores and height; the main outcome variable of interest in the parents’ generation is per capita consumption expenditure.

Children's Measures

We represent children's human capital at age 8 years (round 3) by nutritional status (height) and two cognitive scores (PPVT and math) obtained at age 8. We use raw height at round 3 to represent nutritional status (as opposed to height-for-age z-scores, HAZ) for the inequality analysis because Gini coefficients are not defined for negative values and for these poor populations many children have negative HAZ values. 9 The two cognitive exams at age 8 years are: 10

• The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) uses items consisting of a stimulus word and a set of pictures and is a test of receptive language that has been widely used in low- and middle-income countries ( Walker et al. 2000 , Walker et al. 2005 , Schady et al. 2015 ). The Spanish PPVT ( Test de Vocabulario Imagenes Peabody, TVIP 125 items) was used in Peru while the PPVT III (204 items) was used in Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam. The PPVT (and TVIP) was adapted and standardized by Young Lives researchers in each country using consistent techniques. Psychometric characteristics of the test were examined by Young Lives researchers with results indicating a high degree of test reliability and validity ( Cueto and Leon 2012 ).
• The math achievement test administered had 29 items relating to counting, number discrimination, knowledge of numbers, and basic operations with numbers in which interviewers read the questions aloud to avoid bias resulting from poor reading skills. These scores were evaluated for psychometric properties by the Young Lives study team. Scores were corrected for items with indicators of low reliability and validity resulting in corrected data that exhibits strong psychometric characteristics ( Cueto and Leon 2012 ).

We also control for the language in which the exam was conducted and for whether the exam was in the child's native language. 11 In addition, we control for age in months and the sex of each child to control for age-gender specific differences in performance on tests.

Table 1 shows descriptive statistics for the sample. It is worth noting that there is substantial variation in within-country performance on these scores, especially for children in Ethiopia and India.

Parental Measures

We use per capita daily household consumption expenditure, averaged over rounds 2 and 3 (the two rounds for which consumption data were collected), to characterize the parental household financial resource position. Consumption is generally considered to be a better indicator of the longer-run resource constraints than income for the same time periods because of the substantial transitory components of income, particularly for poorer households in rural environments that are subject to considerable shocks from weather, markets and other sources ( Deaton, 1997 ; Behrman and Knowles, 1999 ). Per capita household consumption is calculated using adult respondents’ estimation of food and non-food items with a recall period ranging from 15 days for food to 12 months for clothing. The total expenditures were first converted to real monthly expenditures in 2006 local currency and divided by household size (adult equivalent in Ethiopia). 12 We then convert the total monthly expenditures to daily consumption in 2006 USD. For parental human capital, we use continuous measures of maternal and paternal schooling attainment in grades and mothers’ height (data on fathers’ height were not available). We also control for mothers’ age to capture lifecycle patterns.

Average per capita consumption per day in USD is reported in Table 1 and is highest for Peru (US$2.05) and lowest for Ethiopia (US$0.56). 13 Per capita consumption poverty below $1 US per day also varies considerably across countries, with Ethiopia and India having the highest prevalence (about 90% each), and Peru the lowest (16%). 14 Sample averages for parental schooling mimic this pattern: mothers’ schooling (7.8 grades for Peru and 3.1 grades for Ethiopia) and fathers’ schooling (9.1 grades for Peru and 5.0 grades for Ethiopia) are also highest in Peru and lowest for Ethiopia. Mothers’ age is lowest in India (23.6 years) and highest in Ethiopia (27.4 years) and mother's height is highest in Ethiopia (158.7 cm) and lowest in Peru (150 cm).

Community Characteristics

We include in the specifications as controls some community variables: whether communities in which children lived have hospitals, 15 an indicator for urban residence, community wealth (constructed separately by country across three rounds as an assetbased index of the first principal component of 19 indicators of household durables, housing quality, and available services (e.g., safe water sources and electricity) ( Filmer and Scott 2012 )), the presence of a secondary school facility in the community, and an indicator for whether children moved to different communities after round 1 (to control for unmeasured changes in these variables over time for those who moved).

The percentage of children living in an urban residence in round one varies from 18.1 (Vietnam) to 66.4 (Peru), the percentage who had moved over the time of the study ranges from 11.4 in India to 48.6 in Peru, the percentage of communities with a hospital ranges from 30.3 in Ethiopia to 89.5 in Vietnam, the percentage of communities with a secondary school present is also highest in Vietnam (98.1) and lowest in Ethiopia (34.7). The presence of substantial heterogeneity in community resources across countries points to the possible importance for controlling for these factors in the regression models as we do in the sections to follow.

4. Empirical Specification

We are interested in (1) characterizing poverty and inequality in per capita consumption and human capital among the parents’ generation, (2) examining the associations between key parental variables and children's human capital outcomes, and (3) documenting the prevalence of poverty and inequality in per capita income and parental schooling for the parent's generation and human capital for the children's generation. We then use these relations to simulate under different scenarios how changing the distribution of per capita consumption and schooling attainment of the parents would affect the distribution of the children's human capital under assumptions that we discuss below.

We begin with the following relation for the per capita consumption ( C P ) in the parents’ generation (subscript P ) as dependent (presumably through their income) on father's and mother's schooling attainment ( FS P and MS P ), maternal age ( MA P ), maternal height ( MH P ) and an unobserved family factor (u P ) related to unobserved income-generating factors that are assumed to be uncorrelated with the right-side variables 16

We estimate this relation with ordinary least squares (OLS) to obtain coefficient estimates for mother's schooling, father's schooling, mother's age, and maternal height, and compute the predicted residual, all of which we use to predict per capita consumption under the hypothetical scenarios of increased parental schooling discussed below.

We next estimate how children's human capital ( H C ) at age 8 years is determined by parental financial resources as represented by ( C P ) , parental schooling attainment MS P and FS P , other individual child and family characteristics ( X ) and community/village characteristics (Z), as well as uncorrelated child-specific factors ( u C ) 17 :

Measures of child human capital H C are scores on the PPVT and math exams and height in cm at age 8 years. Other individual demographic and family characteristics ( X ) include sex and age (in months) of the child at the time of the survey, mother's height, mother's age, and, for the cognitive exams, whether the child took the exam in his or her native language and dichotomous variables for the language of the exam. 18 Community characteristics ( Z ) include urban residence, community wealth, whether there is a hospital in the community, whether there is a secondary school in the community, and—to control for changes for households who no longer live in the community in which these data were collected—whether the family moved after round 1. We include splines in mother's and father's schooling, as well as consumption, to allow the coefficients to vary by whether schooling attainment was less than or more than 9 grades, and whether the family consumed less than or more than the 20 th percentile of per capita consumption. We use seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) methods to obtain estimates of equation (2) in order to allow the errors to be correlated across the child cognitive scores (PPVT, math) and thereby increase efficiency. We use OLS with standard errors clustered by community to estimate relation (2) for height.

Next, using the coefficients and residuals estimated in equation (2) , we insert hypothetical values for maternal and paternal schooling and per capita consumption in order to simulate what the child's cognitive scores and height at age 8 years would be under a number of scenarios, with the assumption that our estimates in relation (2) represent a causal relationship. 19 We calculate the resulting poverty headcounts, Gini coefficients, and percentile ratios. The differences between the poverty measures, Gini coefficients, and percentile ratios for the baseline simulations and those of the hypothetical scenarios thus reflect the effects on poverty and inequality in the children's human capital of hypothetical changes in schooling attainment and per capita consumption in the parental generation. The scenarios that we consider are: 20

• Increased parental schooling attainment to completion of primary schooling (6 grades in Peru, 5 grades in India and Vietnam, and 4 grades in Ethiopia) for all parents who did not complete primary schooling.
• Increased parental schooling attainment to 9 grades for all parents who did not complete 9 grades of schooling.
• Increased per capita household consumption to the 20 th percentile of per capita household consumption for all households below the 20 th percentile in the parental generation.
• Increased per capita household consumption to $1 US per day for all households with per capita daily consumption below $1US.
• Increased parental schooling to 9 grades for all parents with less than 9 grades of schooling, and increased per capita household consumption to $1 US per day for all households with per capita daily consumption below $1 US.

Figures 2 and ​ and3 3 show the actual versus hypothetical changes in parental schooling and per capita consumption respectively. The hypothetical changes to schooling depicted in Figure 2 are quite substantial in all four countries. The changes to per capita consumption depicted in Figure 3 result in substantial increases in Ethiopia and India, but much smaller increases in Peru and Vietnam. Finally, we note explicitly that we assume that parental schooling and per capita consumption is not affected except as indicated for the left tails of the distributions. This is a strong assumption that is likely to overstate the impacts of our simulations on reducing inequality because the general equilibrium effects are likely to induce more schooling and higher consumption among those who are assumed not to be affected by the changes that we simulate (e.g., Contreras 1996 , 2003 ).

CDFs of Grades of Mother's Schooling: Actual and Hypothetical Scenarios

5. Results: Regression Estimates and Simulations

5.1 per capita consumption in parents’ generation.

Table 2 gives the estimated coefficients for equation (1) . The R 2 s for these regressions range from 0.15 in India to 0.35 in Ethiopia, indicating a range of explanatory power across countries though with substantial unexplained variance. Mother's and father's schooling are significant in explaining per capita consumption in all countries. The coefficient estimates on parental schooling indicate that every additional grade of mother's schooling increases per capita consumption by 5.3% in Ethiopia, 1.5% in India, 4.5% in Peru, and 4.8% in Vietnam and that every additional grade of father's schooling increases per capita consumption by 2.7% in Ethiopia and India, 4.2% in Peru, and 3.7% in Vietnam. The association with mother's height is significant in all countries but India. Mother's age has a very small association with the log of per capita consumption and is significant only in Ethiopia.

5.2 Poverty Headcounts and Inequality Measures for Parents’ Generation

Table 3 gives the poverty headcounts and inequality measures (Gini coefficients and percentile ratios: 90p/10p and 75p/25p) for the distributions for per capita consumption and parental schooling for the parents’ generation.

Notes: Poverty line is 20th percentile of original distribution for consumption per capita and 5 grades of schooling for mother's and father's schooling. Standard errors in brackets.

With the “poverty” threshold for schooling set at 5 grades of schooling attainment and per capita consumption set at the 20 th percentile of the original distribution, there is substantial heterogeneity in deprivations in parental schooling (with Ethiopia performing the worst and Vietnam the best) and little variation in the deprivation in per capita consumption poverty (prevalence of poverty: 19.8% (Ethiopia), 16.8% (India), 20%, (Peru) and 19% (Vietnam )). The majority of both mothers (72.1%) and fathers (58.8%) in Ethiopia, and the majority of mothers (60.7%) in India fall below this threshold of 5 grades of schooling attainment. Vietnam has the lowest percentage of mothers (22.7%) below this threshold, and Peru has the lowest percentage of fathers below this threshold (11.7%).

Parental education is most unequally distributed in Ethiopia, with Gini coefficients of 0.302 for mother's schooling attainment, and 0.307 for father's schooling attainment. Father's schooling is most equally distributed in Peru, with a Gini coefficient of 0.226, and mother's schooling is most equally distributed in Vietnam with a Gini coefficient of 0.241. It is not possible to calculate the 90p/10p ratio for both mother's and father's schooling in Ethiopia and India because the bottom decile has zero completed grades of schooling. The 90p/10p ratio for Peru indicates substantial inequality in mother's schooling, where the 90 th percentile is 14 times the level of schooling of the 10 th percentile. Inequality in per capita consumption as measured by Gini coefficients is worst in Peru with a Gini coefficient of 0.322 and lowest in India with a Gini coefficient of 0.246. Notice that there is very little variation in income inequality across three of the four countries as measured by Gini coefficients. Further, inequality as measured by the 90p/10p and 75p/25p ratios is also relatively similar across all the four countries, with the former equal to about 4 and the latter about 2.

5.3 Estimates of the Associations of Child Human Capital Outcomes with Parental Family Per Capita Consumptions and Parental Schooling

Table 4 gives the full set of estimated coefficients from the regressions of child outcomes at age 8 years as related to parental characteristics in equation (2) above. These results suggest that the lower end of the schooling distributions for both mothers and fathers and the lower tails of consumption per capita all tend to be significantly associated with children's cognitive scores and, to some extent, their height. The R 2 s indicate that these relations predict 16% (India) to 50% (Ethiopia) of the variance in PPVT, 23% (India) to 49% (Ethiopia) of the variance in math scores, and 17% (Ethiopia) to 37% (Peru) of the variance in child height. Thus, while parental schooling and per capita consumption are significantly associated with children's human capital, half or more of the variance in children's human capital is due to the residual. Per capita consumption is significantly positively associated with every child human capital outcome in every country, though there is variation among outcomes and among countries in the magnitudes of these associations including between households below and above the 20 th percentile of the per capita consumption distribution. Mother's schooling is also significantly positively associated with every child human capital outcome in every country, with significant positive associations in each case with mother's schooling < 9 grades and in two-thirds of the cases for mother's schooling ≥ 9 grades – again with variation among outcomes and among countries in the magnitudes of these associations including between mother's schooling below and above 9 grades. Father's schooling also is significantly positively associated with every child human capital outcome in every country with the exception of child height in India. The point estimates are larger for father's schooling for seven of the 12 outcomes for parent's schooling < 9 grades and for three of the 12 cases for parent's schooling ≥ 9 grades. Although many of these differences are not significant, these results do not seem to provide strong support for the conventional wisdom regarding the greater importance of mother's than father's schooling (e.g., King and Mason 2001 , LeVine et al. 2011 ). Appendix A gives more detail, including how the estimates differ across the three outcomes and four countries and below and above the cutoffs for the splines in per capita consumption and in parental grades of schooling attained.

5.5 Simulations of Five Scenarios Regarding Improving Those in the Left Tails of the Distributions of Parental Per Capita Consumption and Parental Schooling Attainment

5.5.1 distributions for parental per capita consumption and schooling.

First, to provide some perspective about the variation in poverty head counts and Gini coefficients for consumption per capita over time and across countries, Figure 4 gives poverty head counts based on World Bank estimates using a poverty threshold of $1.25 per day in purchasing-power-parity (PPP) terms for 1982-1986 and 2008-2012 for our four study countries (data are not available for Vietnam for 1982-1986 and are not available for any of the four countries using $1 US per day values). Figure 4 indicates considerable variation across countries, with much higher poverty headcount rates in Ethiopia and India than in Peru and Vietnam, but with substantial declines between 1982-1986 and 2008-2012 particularly for Ethiopia (over 30 percent) and India (over 20 percent). Figure 5 gives similar information for Gini coefficients. This figure indicates about the same levels of inequality in 2008-2012 for three of the countries, but much higher inequality in Peru. It also suggests some increase in inequality between 1982-1986 and 2008-2012 for the three countries for which the estimates are available for 1982-1986. For these three countries the two figures suggest substantial drops in the poverty head count rates so that the absolute levels of consumption of the poorer members of the society in the left tails of the distributions increased at the same time that inequality increased.

Notes: Author calculations based on World Bank Data. The World Bank poverty incidence is computed using the $1.25 per day per person value. Data for Vietnam 1982-1986 are not available.

Notes: Author calculations based on World Bank Data. A Gini index of 0 implies perfect equality and 100 inequality (i.e., all resources are consumed by one individual). Data for Vietnam 1982-1986 are not available.

We now turn to the five simulations described in section 4. To characterize the changes implied by these simulations, we simulate the poverty headcounts and the inequality measures (Gini coefficients, 90p/10p and 75p/25p ratios) for parental schooling and per capita consumption under these scenarios in Table 5 .

Notes: Poverty line is 20th percentile of parents' distribution for consumption per capita and is 5 grades of schooling for mother's and father's schooling; MS= minimum schooling, MC=minimum consumption, P=primary, 9g=9 grades, 20p=20th percentile, $1d=$1 per day. Standard errors in brackets.

Comparing the poverty headcounts in Table 3 (no simulations) and Table 5 (with simulations) for both maternal schooling and paternal schooling shows that “poverty” in schooling attainment, as defined as less than 5 grades of schooling attainment, would be eliminated by increasing the minimum grades of schooling to primary schooling as currently targeted by the Millennium Development Goals (or, of course, to 9 grades) except in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is different because in this country primary school is completed after 4 grades, so individuals who complete primary school but do not go beyond primary school are below our poverty cutoff of 5 completed grades. Therefore for Ethiopia, bringing everyone up to a minimum of primary school completion does not affect the poverty headcount if the cutoff is 5 grades (though, of course, it does reduce some measures of poverty, such as the poverty gap measure). Changing minimum consumption to $1 US per day would decrease per capita consumption headcounts to zero in all countries except Peru (where the 20 th percentile of consumption is above $1, see Table 1 ).

Comparing the Gini coefficients in Table 3 and Table 5 for both maternal schooling and paternal schooling, however, shows that inequality in schooling would not be substantially reduced by increasing the minimum grades of schooling to primary schooling as currently targeted by the Millennium Development Goals. In contrast, inequality in schooling would be reduced substantially by increasing the minimum schooling completed to 9 grades in these countries. For instance, increasing mother's schooling to a minimum of 9 grades would reduce the Gini coefficients for mother's schooling in Ethiopia from 0.302 to 0.026, in India from 0.248 to 0.036, in Peru from 0.260 to 0.089 and in Vietnam from 0.241 to 0.063. Similar effects are observed for father's schooling. Likewise, the p90/p10 and p75/25 ratios would be reduced to near equality between these respective decile pairs if minimum schooling levels were raised to 9 grades. We also find that changing minimum consumption to $1 US per day would decrease consumption inequality substantially in all countries though less for Peru (where, again, the mean per capita daily consumption in USD is much higher in comparison to the other three countries).

5.5.2 Distributions for Children's Cognitive Scores and Heights

Table 6 gives the percentage increases in the PPVT and math scores as well as height at age 8 years under the simulated scenarios. Increasing parental schooling to a minimum of 9 grades and/or minimum consumption to $1 US per day substantially increases predicted math scores and PPVT scores (and to some extent, height) for these children.

Notes: MS= minimum schooling, MC=minimum consumption, P=primary, 9g=9 grades, 20p=20th percentile, $1d=$1US per day.

Table 7 gives the poverty headcount, or the proportion of children performing below certain thresholds that are held fixed for the baseline and other simulations. Under these hypothetical scenarios, the lower end of the distribution performs better for all countries and outcomes, as expected, given the positive intergenerational associations in human capital in the estimates of Table 4 . For example, for Ethiopia the percentage below the threshold of the 20 th percentile in the original distribution of PPVT scores 21 would fall to 13.7% if all parents had at least primary school and to 6.7 % if all parents had at least 9 grades of schooling. It would fall to 9.5% if parental per capita consumption were increased to $1 US per day for all households below that level. In the most generous hypothetical scenario, where schooling and consumption are assumed to be at their highest levels, only 2.0% remain below this threshold. These numbers are similar in general terms, though the degree of simulated change varies, for the other three countries.

Notes: poverty threshold=20 percentile of actual scores; MS=minimum schooling, MC=minimum consumption, P=primary, 9g=9 grades, 20p=20 th percentile, $1d=$1 per day; standard errors in brackets.

Table 8 gives the Gini coefficients for the predicted values of the age 8 outcomes under the various scenarios. 22 Under each of these scenarios in which parental schooling and per capita consumption are increased for the left sides of the distributions, inequality is reduced. For example, the Gini coefficient for the PPVT in Ethiopia falls from 0.296 to 0.275 in the first hypothetical scenario, when all parents with less than primary schooling are assigned primary schooling, and falls to 0.230 in the last hypothetical scenario, when all parents with less than 9 grades of schooling are assigned 9 grades of schooling and households with per capita consumption of less than $1 US per day are assigned $1 US per capita consumption per day. Similarly, in India, the Gini coefficient for PPVT falls from 0.280 in the original distribution to 0.250 in the primary schooling scenario and to 0.218 in the last scenario. While reductions in inequality occur across the board for the cognitive outcomes, the reductions are not large in magnitude. Declines in the Gini coefficients are a bit larger for math in Ethiopia, where for the primary schooling scenario, the Gini coefficient falls from 0.447 to 0.405 and then to 0.321 under the last scenario.

Notes: Zeros coded to 0.4; MS=minimum schooling, MC=minimum consumption, P=primary, 9g=9 grades, 20p=20 th percentile, $1d=$1 per day; standard errors in brackets.

Related to the Gini coefficients, Figures 6 and ​ and7 7 show the Lorenz curves for the distributions of PPVT and math scores under the actual and the most generous hypothetical scenario of a minimum of 9 grades of parental schooling and $1 per day minimum consumption. Visually, there is not much difference between these two distributions for either of the exams in any of the four countries.

Table 9 shows the differentials for the 90 th to 10 th percentiles ratio and the 75 th to 25 th percentiles ratio. For the PVVT for Ethiopia, for example, in the original distribution, the 90 th percentile score is 4.4 times the score of the 10 th percentile; this ratio reduces to 3.93 when all parents have primary schooling, and to 3.04 when parents have 9 grades of schooling and household consumption is increased to $1 per day. The changes for math appear more pronounced, yet many math scores are near zero, which tends to inflate this measure. There are very modest to no changes in the ratios for height.

Notes: poverty threshold=20 percentile of actual scores; MS=minimum schooling, MC=minimum consumption, P=primary, 9g=9 grades, 20p=20 th percentile, $1d=$1 per day.

Thus our simulations seem to indicate fairly small impacts on inequality for children's human capital even of fairly large changes in poverty and inequality for the parents. This may reflect reality. Or it may reflect biases in the intergenerational relations in Table 4 . As discussed at the end of section 3, these may be biased (probably upward) due to positively intergenerationally correlated endowments or biased negatively due to random measurement error. If the net bias is negative, we may be underestimating the net effects. To explore this possibility, we have undertaken estimates in which we assume all the coefficient estimates in Table 4 for per capita consumption and parental schooling are underestimated by 20%. This is equal to a noise-to-signal ratio of 0.25 if there is no endowment bias. We think that this is an overestimate of any likely bias due to measurement error because it is a much larger noise-to-signal ratio than generally found in the previous literature summarized at the end of section 3. Moreover, this calculation assumes no positive endowment bias, even though our a priori reasoning and previous estimates suggest an upward endowment bias (again, see the discussion at the end of section 3). The resulting statistics (see Appendix Table A1 ) indicate in comparison to our simulations in Tables 6 - ​ -8, 8 , further reductions in poverty headcounts on the order of 1-2 percentage points, further but very slight reductions in the Gini coefficients (of less than 0.01), and varying reductions in the 90p/10p and 75p/25p ratios. Thus our results seem fairly robust to biases of such an order of magnitude.

Another reason that the simulated effects of increases in schooling attainment and per capita consumption in the parents’ generation translated into smaller reductions in poverty and inequality in the children's generation than may have been expected by some could be that in the absence of the simulated changes, many children of poor parents would have been enough higher in the distributions than their parents so that increasing their human capital through improvements in their cohort of poor parents did not reduce poverty or inequality much because they would have been enough higher in the distribution in any case. Figures 8 - ​ -10 10 provide some evidence on this possibility, respectively for children's PPVT scores, math scores, and heights. Each figure considers the children only from parents who were in the bottom quintile of the per capita consumption distribution (figures from parents in the bottom quintile of the parental schooling attainment distribution look very similar). The figures illustrate for the four countries the distribution of the children in the three human capital measures with each normalized so that the range is from 0 to 1. If the children of the parents in the bottom per capita consumption quintile were largely in the bottom quintile of the three human capital distributions in the absence of the simulated changes for the parents, these distributions should be concentrated in the left side, below 0.2. Some of the distributions had such concentration, perhaps most strikingly for Ethiopia for PPVT and math and for India for PPVT. But in many cases, children of parents in the bottom consumption quintile performed higher than in the lowest quintile of children in the actual distributions. For these cases, the stimulated improvements in parental resources could have increased significantly their children's human capital with no impact on these children being in “poverty” as defined as the bottom quintile of the cognitive score/height distributions and could have had little or no impact on reducing inequality (and may even have increased inequality).

6. Conclusions

Theoretical models, empirical estimates, and policy prescriptions place considerable emphasis on the importance of the family and its role in improving life chances of children, with the early child ages of particular importance. With this comes a widely-held perception that improving schooling attainment and income/consumption for parents in poor households will substantially improve living standards in the current generation as well as improve the human capital accumulated among children and consequently, reduce poverty and inequality in the next generation of adults. Our aim is to examine if attaining specific targets (such as decreasing the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day and or ensuring primary school completion as currently targeted by the Millennium Development Goals) in one generation would result in substantial reductions in poverty and inequality in the next.

We find that changing parental schooling to at least the primary level does little to change the prevalence of poverty as measured by the proportion below some cutoff and inequality in the distribution of parental schooling. Increasing parental schooling much more to a minimum of 9 grades, however, reduces inequality in terms of parental schooling considerably, but results in little change in the poverty (again in the sense of the proportion below some cutoff) and very little change in the inequality of the distribution of the human capital of their children. The same is true when we raise the per capita consumption of parents to a minimum of $1 a day or to the 20 th percentile of the per capita consumption distribution.

Were the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education to be achieved today, it would imply some 57 million additional children of primary school age in developing regions attending school ( UNDP 2014 ). This would be an important gain. However, it is likely that even in this scenario, substantial inequality in human capital would remain. To some, it may seem trivial that inequalities remain, since even in these hypothetical scenarios, the parents at the bottom of the distribution remain at the bottom (albeit at a higher level). However, for the parents of Young Lives children to have met this Millennium Development Goal would have implied an additional 1 to 3 grades on average per parent with less than primary schooling; to have achieved the goal of a universal 9 grades of schooling would have implied an additional 5-7 grades of schooling per Young Lives parent. These are very large increases as compared, for example, with the estimated impacts of about 0.7 grades of the very visible Mexican conditional cash transfer PROGRESA/Oportunidades program ( Behrman, Sengupta and Todd 2005 ; Schultz 2004 ). The latter scenario would move the bottom tail of the parental schooling distribution well above the current mean in almost all cases, yet still lead to very small changes in inequality for their children's human capital. Furthermore, despite finding strong associations between child cognitive scores and parental human capital and per capita consumption for all countries, these scenarios with substantial changes for the parents at the bottom tail of the distribution do very little to decrease poverty (in the sense of the proportion of children below the 20 th percentile of the distribution before the simulated change) or inequality for their children.

While increases in parental schooling attainment and per capita consumption for poor households are likely to be desirable in themselves to improve welfare among current poor households, they are not likely to have large impacts on reducing human capital (and eventually probably adult per capita consumption) poverty and certainly not inequality in the next generation of adults. Thus, investing in programs to increase parental schooling and income is without a doubt a worthy objective, but doing so with the expectation that important benefits include that this would bring down substantially the prevalence of poverty and inequality in the next generation would be misguided. Our estimates do not support the position summarized in the introduction that there is a “virtuous cycle” in which a one-off reduction in poverty and in inequality for one generation will result in substantially reduced poverty and inequality in the next generation. Instead they suggest that to reduce poverty and inequality across the generations, such efforts to reduce poverty and inequality must be sustained over decades.

Appendix A. More Detailed Discussion of the Estimates of the Associations of Child Human Capital Outcomes with Parental Family and Community Characteristics

Table 4 lists the full set of estimated coefficients from the regressions of outcomes at age 8 years. The R-squared for the cognitive regressions ranges from 0.16 for PPVT in India to 0.50 for PPVT in Ethiopia. The R-squared for the math regressions is also highest for Ethiopia (0.49) and lowest for India (0.23). The R-squared for the regressions of height at age 8 years is highest in Peru (0.37) and lowest in Ethiopia (0.17).

Consumption per capita is associated with higher PPVT scores in all four countries, with differing coefficients based on whether the household is above or below the 20 th percentile. Consumption per capita per day in USD for households in the lowest income quintile is associated with significant increases of 59.5 points in Ethiopia and 12.7 points in Peru for PPVT score, while beyond the 20 th percentile of consumption, it is associated with significant increases of 12.1 points in Ethiopia, 6.8 points in India, 0.6 points in Peru, and 2.4 points in Vietnam. For Math, greater gains also appear in the lowest quintiles for all four countries, India, Peru and Vietnam, with significant increases of 11.5, 4.9, and 7.6 points, respectively in math scores (in India the pattern is the same but the coefficient on consumption for the higher quintiles is not significant). Similarly, for height, there is a higher association with consumption in the lowest quintile, where an additional USD in consumption per capita is associated with 35.8 cm increase in height in Ethiopia, 3.5 cm increase in height in Peru, and 11.3 cm increase in height in Vietnam, compared to increases of 1.4 in Ethiopia, 1.8 in India, 0.2 in Peru, and 0.5 Vietnam, for increases in consumption at the higher income quintiles. These numbers are quite large in magnitude in some cases because an increase of 1USD per capita per day is large in magnitude, considering average levels of per capita consumption per day for these countries.

We also include a spline in mother's schooling, so that coefficients may be determined separately by whether the mother has greater or less than 9 grades of schooling. Here, we find differences in associations with earlier schooling grades that vary by exam and country. For Ethiopia, India, and Peru, earlier schooling grades are associated with smaller increases to PPVT scores (0.6, 1.0, and 0.4) compared to schooling after grade 9 (1.2, 1.3, 1.0, respectively, though not significant for Ethiopia after grade 9). For Vietnam, the reverse is true, where increases in schooling at earlier grades are associated with a greater change in PPVT (1.6) compared to increases at higher levels of schooling (1.5). For math, this pattern holds somewhat for Ethiopia, India and Peru (an additional schooling grade in the early schooling grades is associated with increases of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.2 in Ethiopia, India, and Peru, while in later schooling grades an additional schooling grade is associated with increases of 0.2, 0.4, and 0.4 in Ethiopia, India, and Peru, though not significant in for Ethiopia at higher levels; Vietnam shows significant increases only at lower schooling grades, with coefficient 0.2). For height in cm, an additional schooling grade at lower levels of schooling is again associated with significant increases that are smaller in magnitude in India, Peru, and Vietnam (0.2, 0.2, 0.1) compared to an additional schooling grade at higher levels of schooling (0.3, 0.3, 0.3).

Fathers’ schooling at the earlier grades is significant for both exams in all countries, while additional schooling at greater than 9 grades is significant in five (PPVT in India and Peru, Math in India, and EGRA in India) of the eight possible cases. Fathers’ schooling is significant for height only in Ethiopia and Peru for lower levels of schooling, and significant at higher levels of schooling in Vietnam.

Community wealth is significant in all countries for both exams in all four countries. Its magnitude for PPVT ranges from 1.1 in Peru to 5.4 in Ethiopia, and for math, from 0.2 in Peru to 0.9 in India. For height, community wealth is significant in Ethiopia, India and Peru (coefficients of 0.3 for all three).

These results suggest that increases in the lower end of the schooling distribution for both mothers and fathers, and in the lower tails of consumption per capita may all have significant implications for children's cognitive scores and, to some extent, their height.

* This research has been supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Global Health Grant OPP10327313), Eunice Shriver Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Development (Grant R01 HD070993) and Grand Challenges Canada (Grant 0072-03 to the Grantee, The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania). The data used in this study come from Young Lives, a 15-year survey investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam ( www.younglives.org.uk ). Young Lives is core-funded by UK aid from the Department for International Development (DFID) and cofunded from 2010-2014 by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Eunice Shriver Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Development, Grand Challenges Canada, Young Lives, DFID or other funders. A previous version of this paper was presented at the “Inequalities in Children's Outcomes in Developing Countries” Conference at St Anne's College, Oxford University, 8-9 July 2013. The authors thank the assigned discussant at the conference, Karen Macours, and others at the conference for useful comments. The authors also thank participants in a session at the 2014 Population Association of America annual meetings and at the Duke Population Research Institute (DuPRI), particularly Duncan Thomas, for useful feedback and suggestions. Finally the authors thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for very helpful comments on an earlier version that have helped reshape considerably this version.

1 We thank an Associate Editor of the journal for suggesting that we add this characterization.

2 There is also a literature examining the impacts of direct transfers from parents to children, including Dahl et al. (2012) and Hoynes et al. (2013) on the United States’ experience. However, we focus here on the indirect transmission of human capital and resources between generations in developing countries.

3 There are a number of alternative measures of poverty and inequality that are used in the literature (e.g., the Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (1984) class of poverty measures), but we limit our presentation to the poverty headcount, Gini and percentile ratio (p90/p10, p75/p25) inequality measures because we are presenting such measures for a number of simulations and these are the most common and best-known measures.

4 There are some studies suggesting that, at least over a range, the marginal benefit curve may be upward-sloping. For instance, Johannes and Noula (2011) estimate that the marginal benefit in primary and secondary schooling is increasing for the middle-income group in the Cameroons. However, this and most other such studies do not control for unobserved abilities, motivations, and family connections. If, as is suggested by the models of familial human capital investment in children in Becker and Tomes (1976) and Behrman et. al (1982 , 1995 ) and seems plausible, students with greater abilities, higher motivation, and better family connections both have greater schooling and higher post-schooling incomes because of their abilities, motivations, and family connections, then these estimates are biased upward more for higher levels of schooling in a way that may obscure the declining returns to students with fixed abilities, motivations, and family connections. Finally we note that though presentations such as Figure 1 usually are drawn as if there are declining expected private marginal benefits with more schooling, there could be a stable equilibrium with increasing expected private marginal benefits as long as the slope of the increasing expected private marginal benefits curve is less than the slope of the increasing expected private marginal cost curve in the neighborhood of the equilibrium.

5 Time-use surveys in the United States suggest that both men and women recently spent about 14% of their time on “educational” child-care activities that include reading to children, helping with homework, teaching children, and attending activities in school ( Guryan et. al 2008 ). To our knowledge, such detailed time-use surveys on child-care activities are unavailable for our study countries.

6 OLS estimates of the impacts of per capita consumption expenditure on measures of children's education and health generally tend to be biased downward in comparison with estimates that use instrumental variables to control for measurement error and possibly biases due to unobserved endowments, though the instruments used would seem to be correlated with unobserved endowments so it is not likely that they eliminate the latter bias (see Behrman and Knowles 1999 , Brown and Park 2002 , Glewwe and Jacoby 2004 , Mani et. al 2013 , Haddad et. al 2003 , Mani 2014 ).

7 The Young Lives study also follows an older cohort of children initially surveyed at age 8 years in 2002 and followed through the 2006-07 and 2009-10 waves of the panel study. However, we focus on the younger cohort because they reflect 21 st century experience during the early-life formative years in which families are thought to have great impact of children, as noted in the text. The older cohort sample does not include information on the children or their families when the children were younger than 8 years old, and the sample size for the older cohort is 50% smaller than for the younger cohort. Because the intergenerational associations between parental schooling attainment and income on one hand and indicators of child human capital on the other hand tend to be larger for the younger cohort than for the older cohort ( Georgiadis, 2013 ), our use of the younger cohort probably leads to higher estimates of the impacts of improving schooling and consumption of poor parents than would result from similar analysis of the older cohort.

8 Data are missing for some variables used in samples for the analysis. Per capita consumption is missing for 0.1% in Peru and 1% in India; mother's schooling is missing for 0.8% (Ethiopia), 0.2% (India), 0.9% (Peru), and 0.8% (Vietnam); father's schooling is missing for 4.3% (Ethiopia), 0.2% (India), 3.1% (Peru), and 2.6% (Vietnam); mother's age is missing for 2.5% (Ethiopia), 0.4% (India), 0.6% (Peru), and 0.2% (Vietnam); and hospital in community and secondary school in community are missing for 5.3% in Ethiopia and 2.2% in India. For the individual-level variables, we use the variable median at the community level to impute data for missing values, and include dummies for each human capital measure missing in the regressions.

9 Because the age range for the children is relatively small (measurements taken within 24, 20, 18, and 17 months of each other in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam, respectively), the variations in the median height and standard deviations for a well-nourished population in such an age interval around age 8 years old (used to calculate HAZ) are small and we control for child age in the estimates, the use of height at about age 8 years rather than HAZ at about age 8 years is not likely to make much difference in the relevant estimates.

10 A third test is also available: The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) from the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study to assess verbal achievement ( Glewwe 1991 ). This test is typically administered orally and is used to evaluate the most basic skills for literacy acquisition in early grades, including pre-reading skills such as listening comprehension. The Young Lives adaptation of the EGRA explored the child's ability to identify familiar words, read and comprehend a small text, and to understand a small text read to them. We do not include this test because scores are missing for a large proportion of the children, particularly in Ethiopia (20.1%).

11 There are missing data on the language of the exam. We coded missing data to the mode of the community, and then checked these values with language of exam in round 2 (when two other exams were given) as well as their native language in both rounds 2 and round 3. In the few cases where there was discordance between the imputed value and these other values, we recoded the missing data to the language of exam in the previous year (in these cases they were the same as the native language).

12 Young Lives country teams calculated consumption independently, resulting in this slight methodological difference for Ethiopia.

13 Since per capita consumption in Ethiopia is per adult equivalent, this value slightly over-represents consumption compared to values for the other three countries in this table.

14 Given that we are defining per capita consumption poverty to be below the 20 th percentile distribution, this measure of the poverty headcounts across countries for per capita consumption varies little across counties (though there is a little variation because of bunching up of reported per capita consumption at the 20 th percentile).

15 An alternative to this measure would be the presence of primary care facilities; however, we did not use this measure because there is no variation in Vietnam in the presence of primary care facilities.

16 We are limited in the variables that we may include in this relation to those that are available for the parents’ generation.

17 Both X and Z may be vectors, but for simplicity are written as scalars here.

18 Examination of the psychometric qualities of the tests suggests that test performance varied by language, so scores should be compared within languages only ( Cueto and Leon 2012 ). Hence we include language dummies for each language. The dummy for whether a child was tested in a language other than his or her native tongue controls for a possible deficiency resulting from being tested in a second language.

19 In these simulations we assume that the effects of parental schooling are the direct effects as estimated for relation (2) and also the indirect effects through per capita household consumption as estimated with relation (1).

20 Note that households with parental human capital values above the thresholds listed below remain unaltered in the simulations. We are primarily concerned with improving the conditions for those in the lower tails of the distributions.

21 The poverty headcount is less than 0.20 in some cases since only those performing lower than the 20 th percentile are measured as being below the “poverty line.”

22 Since the Gini coefficient may only be calculated using nonzero values, we coded any scores of 0 (possible for the Math scores) to 0.4. While this is an arbitrary value, it rounds to zero and allows for the Gini coefficient to be calculated for the full sample of scores.

• Almond Douglas, Currie Janet. Killing Me Softly: The Fetal Origins Hypothesis. Journal of Economic Perspectives. 2011; 25 (3):153–72. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ashenfelter Orley, Krueger Alan. Estimates of the Economic Return to Schooling from a New Sample of Twins. American Economic Review. 1994; 84 (5):1157–74. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ashenfelter Orley, Rouse Cecilia. Income, Schooling, and Ability: Evidence from a New Sample of Identical Twins. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 1998; 113 (1):253–84. [ Google Scholar ]
• Barros Ricardo PE, Ferreira Francisco HG, Vega Jose RM, Chanduvi Jaime S. Measuring Inequalities of Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribean. Washington, DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development; 2009. [ Google Scholar ]
• Becker Gary S, Tomes Nigel. Child Endowments and the Quantity and Quality of Children. Journal of Political Economy. 1976; 84 (4):S143–62. [ Google Scholar ]
• Becker Gary S. Human Capital. 2. Vol. 1975. New York: NBER; 1967. Human Capital and the Personal Distribution of Income: An Analytical Approach; pp. 94–117. University of Michigan, Woytinsky Lecture republished in Gary S. Becker. [ Google Scholar ]
• Behrman Jere R, Trujillo Alejandro Gaviria, Székely Miguel. Intergenerational Schooling Mobility in Latin America. Economia. 2001; 2 (1):1–31. [ Google Scholar ]
• Behrman Jere R, Knowles James C. Household Income and Child Schooling in Vietnam. World Bank Economic Review. 1999; 13 (2):211–56. [ Google Scholar ]
• Behrman Jere R, Calderon Maria Cecilia, Preston Samuel, Hoddinott John, Martorell Reynaldo, Stein Aryeh D. Nutritional Supplementation of Girls Influences the Growth of their Children: Prospective Study in Guatemala. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2009; 90 (5):1372–1379. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Behrman Jere R, Pollak Robert A, Taubman Paul. Parental Preferences and Provision for Progeny. Journal of Political Economy. 1982; 90 (1):52–73. [ Google Scholar ]
• Behrman Jere R, Pollak Robert A, Taubman Paul. The Wealth Model: Efficiency in Education and Distribution in the Family. In: Behrman JR, Pollak RA, Taubman P, editors. From Parent to Child: Intrahousehold Allocations and Intergenerational Relations in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1995. [ Google Scholar ]
• Behrman Jere R, Rosenzweig Mark R. Does Increasing Women's Schooling Raise the Schooling of the Next Generation. American Economic Review. 2002; 92 (1):323–334. [ Google Scholar ]
• Behrman Jere R, Rosenzweig Mark R, Taubman Paul. Endowments and the Allocation of Schooling in the Family and in the Marriage Market: The Twins Experiment. Journal of Political Economy. 1994; 102 (6):1131–74. [ Google Scholar ]
• Behrman Jere R, Sengupta Piyali, Todd Petra. Progressing through Progresa: An Impact Assessment of a School Subsidy Experiment in Rural Mexico. Economic Development and Cultural Change. 2005; 54 (1):237–75. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bielby William T, Hauser Robert M, Featherman David L. Response Errors of Non-Black Males in Models of the Stratification Process. In: Aigner DA, Goldberger AS, editors. Latent Variables in Socio-Economic Models. Amsterdam: North Holland; 1977. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bird K. The intergenerational transmission of poverty: An Overview. London: Overseas Development Institute, Chronic Poverty Research Centre; 2007. [ Google Scholar ]
• Birdsall Nancy, Graham Carol. New Markets, New Opportunities? Economic and Social Mobility in a Changing World. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; 2000. [ Google Scholar ]
• Black Sandra E, Devereux Paul J. Recent Developments in Intergenerational Mobility. IZA Discussion Paper Series No. 4866 2010 [ Google Scholar ]
• Black Sandra E, Devereux Paul J, Salvanes Kjell G. Why the Apple Doesn't Fall Far: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital. American Economic Review. 2005; 95 (1):437–49. [ Google Scholar ]
• Brown Philip H, Park Albert. Education and Poverty in Rural China. Economics of Education Review. 2002; 21 (6):523–41. [ Google Scholar ]
• Castañeda Tarsicio, Aldaz-Carroll Enrique. The Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty: Some Causes and Policy Implications. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank; 1999. Working paper. [ Google Scholar ]
• Contreras Dante. PhD dissertation. University of California; Los Angele: 1996. Household and Individual Welfare: Evidence from Less Developed Economies. [ Google Scholar ]
• Contreras Dante. Poverty and Inequality in a Rapid Growth Economy: Chile 1990-96. Journal of Development Studies. 2003; 39 (3):181–200. [ Google Scholar ]
• Corak Miles. Do Poor Children Become Poor Adults? Lessons from a Cross-Country Comparison of Generational Earnings Mobility. Research on Economic Inequality. 2006; 13 :143–88. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cueto Santiago, Leon Juan. Psychometric Characteristics of Cognitive Development and Achievement Instruments in Round 3 of Young Lives. Oxford: Young Lives (England); 2012. p. 47. Technical Note No. 15. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cunha Flavio, Heckman James J, Lochner Lance. Handbook of the Economics of Education. Elsevier; 2006. Interpreting the Evidence on Life Cycle Skill Formation. [ Google Scholar ]
• Currie Janet. Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise? Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development. Journal of Economic Literature. 2009; 47 (1):87–122. [ Google Scholar ]
• Currie Janet, Vogl Tom. Early-life health and adult circumstance in developing countries. Annual Review of Economics. 2013; 5 :1–36. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dahl Gordon, Lochner Lance. The Impact of Family Income on Child Achievement: Evidence from Changes in the Earned Income Tax Credit. American Economic Review. 2012; 102 (5):1927–1956. [ Google Scholar ]
• Deaton Angus. The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconometric Approach to Development Policy. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press for the World Bank; 1997. [ Google Scholar ]
• Engle Patrice L, Fernald Lia CH, Alderman Harold, Behrman Jere, O'Gara Chloe, Yousafzai Aisha, Cabral de Mello Meena, Hidrobo Melissa, Ulkuer Nurper, Ertem Ilgi, et al. Strategies for Reducing Inequalities and Improving Developmental Outcomes for Young Children in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries. Lancet. 2011; 378 (9799):1339–53. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Engle Patrice L, Black Maureen M, Behrman Jere R, Cabral de Mello Meena, Gertler Paul J, Kapiriri Lydia, Martorell Reynaldo, Young Mary Eming. Strategies to Avoid the Loss of Developmental Potential in More Than 200 Million Children in the Developing World. Lancet. 2007; 369 (9557):229–42. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ferreira Francisco, Leite Phillippe. Educational Expansion and Income Distribution: A micro-simulation for Ceará In: Hoeven van der, Shorrocks, editors. Growth, Inequality and Poverty. London: Oxford University Press; 2004. [ Google Scholar ]
• Filmer Deon, Scott Kinnon. Assessing Asset Indices. Demography. 2012; 49 (1):359–392. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Foster Andrew D. Prices, Credit markets, and Child Growth in Low-Income Rural Areas. Economic Journal. 1995; 105 (430):551–570. [ Google Scholar ]
• Foster James E, Greer Joel, Thorbecke Erik. A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures. Econometrica. 1984; 52 (3):761–766. [ Google Scholar ]
• Georgiadis Andreas. Parental Background and Children's Human Capital Development Throughout Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence from Four Low- and Middle-Income Countries. University of Oxford; UK: 2013. Unpublished manuscript. [ Google Scholar ]
• Gertler Paul, Heckman James, Pinto Rodrigo, Zanolini Arianna, Vermeerch Christel, Walker Susan, Chang Susan M, Grantham-McGregor Sally. Labor Market Returns to an Early Childhood Stimulation Intervention in Jamaica. Science. 2014; 344 (6187):998–1001. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Glewwe Paul. Working Paper No. 76. Vol. 69 Washington, D.C.: World Bank (USA); 1991. Schooling, Skills, and the Returns to Government Investment in Education: An Exploration using Data from Ghana. [ Google Scholar ]
• Glewwe Paul, Jacoby Hannan G. Economic Growth and the Demand for Education: Is there a Wealth Effect. Journal of Development Economics. 2004; 74 (1):33–51. [ Google Scholar ]
• Guryan Jonathan, Hurst Erik, Kearney Melissa. Parental Education and Parental Time with Children. Journal of Economic Perspectives. 2008; 22 (3):23–46. [ Google Scholar ]
• Haddad Lawrence, Alderman Harold, Appleton Simon, Song Lina, Yohannes Yisehac. Reducing Child Malnutrition: How Far Does Income Growth Take Us? World Bank Economic Review. 2003; 17 (1):107–31. [ Google Scholar ]
• Heckman James J. Skill Formation and the Economics of Investing in Disadvantaged Children. Science. 2006; 312 (5782):1900–02. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hoddinott John, Alderman Harold, Behrman Jere R, Haddad Lawrence, Horton Susan. The Economic Rationale for Investing in Stunting Reduction. Maternal and Child Nutrition. 2013; 9 (Suppl 2):69–82. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hoddinott John, Maluccio John A, Behrman Jere R, Flores Rafael, Martorell Reynaldo. The Impact of Nutrition During Early Childhood on Income, Hours Worked, and Wages of Guatemalan Adults. Lancet. 2008; 371 (9610):411–416. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hoddinott John, Maluccio John A, Behrman Jere R, Martorell Reynaldo, Melgar Paul, Quisumbing Agnes R, Ramirez-Zea Manuel, Stein Aryeh D, Yount Kathryn M. Adult Consequences of Growth Failure in Early Childhood. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2013; 98 (5):1170–1178. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hoynes Hilary, Schanzenbach Diane, Almond Douglas. Long Run Impacts of Childhood Access to the Safety Net. NBER Working Paper No. 18535 2013 [ Google Scholar ]
• Johannes Tabi A, Noula Armand G. Gender and Increased Access to Schooling in Cameroon: A Marginal Benefit Incidence Analysis. Journal of International Women Studies. 2011; 12 (1) [ Google Scholar ]
• King Elizabeth, Mason Andrew D. Engendering Development: Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice--World Bank Policy Research Report. New York: World Bank and Oxford University Press; 2001. [ Google Scholar ]
• LeVine Robert A, LeVine Sarah, Schnell-Anzola Beatrice, Rowe Meredith L, Dexter Emily. Literacy and Mothering: How Women's Schooling Changes the Lives of the World's Children. London: Oxford University Press; 2011. [ Google Scholar ]
• Levy Santiago. Progress Against Poverty: Sustaining Mexico's PROGRESAOportunidades Program. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution; 2006. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lillard Lee A, Willis Robert J. Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Effects of Family and State in Malaysia. Journal of Human Resources. 1994; 29 (4):1126–1166. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mani Subha, Hoddinott John, Strauss John. Determinants of Schooling –Empirical Evidence from Rural Ethiopia. Journal of African Economies. 2013; 22 (5):693–731. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mani Subha. Socioeconomic Determinants of Child Health - Empirical Evidence from Indonesia. Asian Economic Journal. 2014; 28 (1):81–104. [ Google Scholar ]
• Orazem Peter F, King Elizabeth M. Schooling in Developing Countries: The Roles of Supply, Demand and Government Policy. In: Schultz TP, Strauss J, editors. Handbook of Development Economics. Vol. 4. 2008. [ Google Scholar ]
• Plug Erik. Estimating the Effect of Mother's Schooling on Children's Schooling Using a Sample of Adoptees. American Economic Review. 2004; 94 (1):358–68. [ Google Scholar ]
• Schady Norbert, Behrman Jere R, Araujo Maria Caridad, Azuero Rodrigo, Bernal Raquel, Bravo David, Lopez-Boo Florencia, Macours Karen, Marshall Daniela, Paxson Christina, Vakis Renos. Wealth Gradients in Early Childhood Cognitive Development in Five Latin American Countries. Journal of Human Resources. 2015 forthcoming. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schott Whitney, Crookston Benjamin T, Lundeen Elizabeth A, Stein Aryeh D, Behrman Jere R, The Young Lives Determinants and Consequences of Growth Project Team Periods of Child Growth up to Age 8 years in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam: Key Distal Household and Community Factors. Social Science and Medicine. 2013; 97 :278–287. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schultz T Paul. School Subsidies for the Poor: Evaluating the Mexican Progresa Poverty Program. Journal of Development Economics. 2004; 74 (1):199–250. [ Google Scholar ]
• Solon Gary. Intergenerational Mobility in the Labor Market. In: Ashenfelter Orley, Card David., editors. Handbook of Labor Economics. Vol. 3. Amsterdam: NorthHolland; 1999. pp. 1761–800. [ Google Scholar ]
• Solon Gary. Cross-Country Differences in Intergenerational Earnings Mobility. Journal of Economic Perspectives. 2002; 16 (3):59–66. [ Google Scholar ]
• Strauss John, Thomas Duncan. Health, Nutrition and Economic Development. Journal of Economic Literature. 1998; 36 (2):766–817. [ Google Scholar ]
• Strauss John, Thomas Duncan. Health over the Life Course. In: Schultz TP, Strauss J, editors. Handbook of Development Economics. Vol. 4. Elsevier; 2008. [ Google Scholar ]
• UNDP. Millenium Development Goals and Beyond. [Accessed 7/23/2014]; 2014 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/education.shtml .
• Victora Cesar G, Adair Linda, Fall Caroline, Hallal PedroC, Martorell Reynaldo, Richter Linda, Sachdev Harshpal Singh, on behalf of the Maternal and Child Undernutrition Study Group Undernutrition 2: Maternal and Child Undernutrition: Consequences for Adult Health and Human Capital. Lancet. 2008; 371 (9609):340–357. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Walker Susan P, Chang Susan M, Powell Christine A, Grantham-McGregor Sally M. Effects of Early Childhood Psychosocial Stimulation and Nutritional Supplementation on Cognition and Education in Growth-Stunted Jamaican Children: Prospective Cohort Study. Lancet. 2005; 366 :1804–07. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Walker Susan P, Grantham-McGregor Sally M, Powell Christine A, Chang Susan M. Effects of Growth Restriction in Early Childhood on Growth, IQ, and Cognition at age 11 to 12 years and the Benefits of Nutritional Supplementation and Psychosocial Stimulation. Journal of Pediatrics. 2000; 137 :36–41. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]

What Is Generational Poverty?

Written By:

James Johnstone

Blog Date – Updated:

My parents were poor. I am poor. My children will be poor.

Generational Poverty means staying impoverished for two or more generations. Poverty is not an incurable disease, yet it is passed down to one generation after another. This is usually called “ the Cycle of Poverty, “ where everything begins once again after it is finished, persisting in a whole family’s tree for years.

Table of Contents

1. lack of education, 2. lack of resources, 3. lack of determination, how can we solve generational poverty, frequently asked questions, how can education help fight poverty, 3 reasons why vietnamese ethnic minority are poor, what causes generational poverty.

When nothing changes after many generations—families live in poor conditions, children don’t go to school, adults cannot afford daily expenses—there must be some deep-rooted causes for this problem. Below are the top 3 most critical culprits of Generational Poverty:

As discussed in many of our blogs, education holds a significant power that indicates a household’s well-being and wealth; therefore, lacking appropriate knowledge and skills is the foremost reason why so many families don’t have the caliber to escape impoverishment.

For example, literacy, an extremely essential skill that one should acquire to perform jobs of higher pay, is still absent in many families of remote and challenging regions. According to UNESCO, “about 124 million children today do not go to primary and lower-secondary school. Almost 2 in 5 who do finish primary school have not learned how to read, write or do simple arithmetic.”

This is an apparent cause of Poverty. When parents lack financial resources, they lose several means to live independently and raise their families. Because parents are the closet role model for youngsters, disadvantageous influences can spread to the children: poor nutritious eating habits, a lack of confidence, and optimism.

This behavior is also a part of “the scarcity mindset”—a mental shift due to the perception of scarce resources —which traps people in a cycle of insecure thinking and struggle to obtain short-term goals.

The shortfall of available resources might come from the surrounding environment. Families living in underserved areas might face difficulties that inhibit their source of generating income.

Whereas the last two factors are external reasons, this last point refers to an internal trait determining why Poverty persists for generations. Individuals experiencing Generational Poverty are generally devoid of determination and possess a quite pessimistic and passive mindset in fighting Poverty.

“Destiny is what every human being creates for oneself. Fate is when you fail to create your own destiny.” Jaggi Vasudev

Being poor doesn’t equate to being unintelligent. In a hazardous situation, a person’s resilience to strive for the better – better income, better living conditions, better health – is challenged. Each individual is responsible for their life and how they want to live; therefore, if a family continues to live in Poverty, members of the house might choose not to work harder.

Nevertheless, people’s mindsets may be pushed into a state of hopelessness and devastation because of stress and external factors. A researcher conducted in 2017 proved that Poverty could impede cognitive function: concerns over Poverty and finance reduce mental sources , leading to a manifestation of counterproductive behaviors such as less efficient employees, insensitive parents, and poor financial management.

In Project Sprouts’ Blogs, we have emphasized that “Education can change people’s lives many times.” Education can spark changes and help individuals find hope and meaning to escape extreme poverty.

With regard to growing in determination, it is crucial to remind oneself of their aspiration and long-term commitment to fighting against Generational Poverty.

Many examples of scholarship-winning students come from highly impoverished and uneducated families. They are real-life demonstrations of overcoming obstacles to gain a brighter future.

Tran Thi Dieu Lien is a Vietnamese student who proudly won the scholarship of 320.000 USD for her 4-year studying at Harvard University. Despite being the daughter of a poor janitor and an advertisement billboard marker, Dieu Lien has diligently studied hard to reach her aim.

Dieu Lien is revered for her perseverance and intelligence, and those traits were also partly formed earlier by her parents. She said in one interview: “The most valuable lesson my father taught me was staying independent and making decisions on your own.”

Dieu Lien’s parents have a difficult life, but they have educated and modestly raised their children. Both Dieu Lien’s determination and her parents’ positive influences led her to success.

At Project Sprouts, we realize that we can not solve all the problems of Poverty in a situation like this.  But we can seek to make a difference in the lives of needy children by giving them school supplies and encouraging them to continue their education; we can give them winter coats, boots, and blankets to help them stay warm during the cold winter months.

Project Sprouts would love to have you be a part of our community and help us help worthy children in North Vietnam.  We cannot solve all the world’s problems, but we can do our part to help poor kids grow by giving school supplies, winter coats, boots, and other supplies.

You can find out more about Project Sprouts by  clicking here  or going to our give now page to donate by  clicking here. As we are a grassroots organization, all funds go to help those in need.

What is generational poverty?

Generational poverty refers to families living in poverty for at least two generations. It can be deeply entrenched, with its own set of beliefs, values, and norms which can make it difficult to break the cycle.

What are the causes of generational poverty?

Causes may include lack of education, limited access to job opportunities, inadequate healthcare, systemic discrimination, and a lack of social mobility.

How is generational poverty different from situational poverty?

Situational poverty is generally caused by a sudden crisis or loss and is usually temporary. Generational poverty, on the other hand, occurs over two or more generations and can be a persistent, long-term issue.

What are the effects of generational poverty on children?

Children in generational poverty may suffer from poor nutrition, inadequate healthcare, low quality of education, and limited access to opportunities. This could affect their development, academic achievement, and future economic prospects.

How can generational poverty be addressed?

Solutions include quality education, access to healthcare, job training programs, affordable housing, and policies to address systemic discrimination and increase social mobility.

How does education play a role in breaking the cycle of generational poverty?

Education equips individuals with skills and knowledge to access better job opportunities. It can provide a pathway out of poverty and help break the cycle across generations.

What role does government policy play in addressing generational poverty?

Government policies play a critical role in providing safety nets and promoting equal opportunities for education, healthcare, and employment, which are crucial for breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

Can generational poverty be perpetuated by culture?

The cycle of generational poverty can be influenced by cultural factors, such as attitudes towards education, work, and money, which can be passed down from generation to generation.

Related Content:

The United Nations’ 4th Sustainable Development Goal – Quality Education has emphasized the importance of education in combating not only Poverty but also other societal issues.

Learning how education can support impoverished people will help you understand why the world needs education and what the mission of  Project Sprouts  is

You can read more by reading How Can Education Help Fight Poverty? by clicking here .

According to  the World Bank’s statistics , the poverty rate in Vietnam has declined dramatically from around 70 percent to below 6 percent since 2002.

However, the unsolvable issue with Poverty in Vietnam is that more than 70% of the impoverished population comes from Ethnic minorities (measured using Vietnam’s poverty line).  Despite several solutions and policies, Ethnic Poverty is strongly persistent in Vietnam: poor children have to leave school, adults struggle to be employed.

Why Is This The Case?   What are the causes of Ethnic Poverty?

You can read more by reading by  3 Reasons Why Vietnamese Ethnic Minority Are Poor  by  clicking here .

• Recent Posts

My passion for initiatives like Project Sprouts runs deep, as I am dedicated to supporting underprivileged children on their journey to growth and education. Uplifting and inspiring those who are less fortunate is a cause close to my heart.

When I’m not immersed in writing about these important subjects or actively involved in charitable work, you can often find me out on the open waters, sailing beneath the endless expanse of clear blue skies. Join me on my exploratory voyage through the realms of knowledge, compassion, and the vast oceans of inspiration.

• The Power of Family: Why It’s More Important Than Ever – December 31, 2023
• Innovative Approaches to Integrating Schools – December 25, 2023
• Think Global, Act Local: A Powerful Business Strategy – December 18, 2023

Read our research on: Gun Policy | International Conflict | Election 2024

Regions & Countries

The Hardships and Dreams of Asian Americans Living in Poverty

Illustrations by Jing Li

Asian Americans are often portrayed as economically and educationally successful.

In reality, about one-in-ten Asian Americans live in poverty. Asian Americans also have the most income inequality of any major racial or ethnic group in the United States.

Without closely examining the diversity of Asian American experiences, it’s easy to miss the distinct stories of Asian Americans living with economic hardship.

To understand more about this population, Pew Research Center conducted 18 focus groups in 12 languages to explore the stories and experiences of Asian Americans living in poverty.

Table of Contents

Of the 24 million Asians living in the United States, about 2.3 million live in poverty . Many are working to overcome the economic hardships they encounter and achieve their American dream. But they face challenges along the way, from Asian immigrants grappling with language barriers to U.S.-born Asians navigating pathways to success.

In February 2023, Pew Research Center conducted 18 focus groups with adult participants from 11 Asian origin groups in different regions across the U.S. These are among the most likely Asian origin groups to experience economic hardship in the U.S. Focus groups included those whose approximate family income is at or below 140%-250% of the 2022 federal poverty line, depending on their location. Accompanying these focus group findings are results from a Pew Research Center survey about the hardships and dreams of Asians living in poverty, conducted from July 2022 to January 2023.

Some common themes that focus group participants shared include day-to-day financial difficulties, assumptions by others that they do not need help because they are Asian, and the importance of financial security in achieving the American dream.

Related:   1 in 10: Redefining the Asian American Dream (Short Film)

Focus groups also reveal that Asian Americans’ experiences with economic hardship differ by whether they were born in the U.S. or outside the country. Some immigrants not only experience difficulties making ends meet, but also face challenges that come with living in a new, unfamiliar country. These include learning English, navigating daily life in a new place and finding a stable job.

Even though U.S.-born Asians grew up in this country and speak English, they talk about the challenges of understanding what it takes to succeed in America. This includes getting the “right” education, getting access to the “right” knowledge and knowing the “right” people to succeed.

The findings in this data essay reveal what participants shared about their experiences with economic hardship, overcoming challenges, and their views of the American dream and social mobility in America.

The terms Asians and Asian Americans are used interchangeably throughout this data essay to refer to those who self-identify as Asian, either alone or in combination with other races or Hispanic identity.

The terms living in poverty, living near or below the federal poverty line and living with economic hardship are used interchangeably throughout this essay to refer to adults whose family income is close to or below the 2022 federal poverty line.

• For results on Asian adults from the focus groups, this refers to adults whose approximate family income is at or below 140%-250% of the federal poverty line. Thresholds varied by focus group recruitment locations to account for differences in the cost of living.
• For results on Asian adults from the survey , this refers to adults whose approximate family income falls at or below 100% of the federal poverty line.
• For data on the total U.S. Asian population from the U.S. Census Bureau , this refers to all Asian Americans whose family income is at or below 100% of the federal poverty line.

The terms federal poverty line and poverty line are used interchangeably to refer to the federal poverty guidelines published yearly by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The term U.S. born refers to people born in 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories.

The term immigrant refers to people who were born outside the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories.

Asian Americans and financial struggles

Financial difficulties are part of many Asian Americans’ day-to-day lives, according to the 2022-23 survey. Asian adults were asked if they had experienced any of the following financial challenges in the past 12 months: gotten food from a food bank or a charitable organization, lost their health insurance, had problems paying for their rent or mortgage, had trouble paying for medical care for themselves or their family, had trouble paying their bills, or been unable to save money for emergencies.

“It got really bad to the point where a simple bowl of rice, we weren’t even able to afford that. So there were times where a bowl of rice would be a meal for all three meals, or we just simply did not eat.” NOLAN , FILM PARTICIPANT

The most common financial difficulty experienced is being unable to save for emergencies. More than half of Asian adults living in poverty (57%) said this had happened to them. By comparison, fewer Asian adults living above the poverty line (40%) said this.

Note: “Asian adults living in poverty” refers to survey respondents whose approximate family income is at or below 100% of the federal poverty line. Share of respondents who didn’t offer an answer or answered “no” not shown.

Source: Survey of Asian American adults conducted July 5, 2022-Jan. 27, 2023. “The Hardships and Dreams of Asian Americans Living in Poverty”

Some focus group participants shared how challenging it was for them to save because of their earnings and their family needs. Participants also talked about the urgency they feel to save for their children and retirement:

“I feel a bit helpless [about my financial situation]. … I don’t want to be in debt. I have to save money to raise my kids, but I don’t have money to save.”

–Immigrant man of Korean origin in early 30s (translated from Korean)

“[I save money] to go to Pakistan. Because I have four children … I needed five or six tickets, in case my husband traveled with us, and it required a lot of money. We used to save for one whole year, and when we were back from Pakistan, we were usually empty-handed. Then the cycle started again.”

–Immigrant woman of Pakistani origin in late 40s (translated from Urdu)

“You’re not going to work forever. No one is going to work forever. You want to have savings … for your rent [or] in case of medical bills [if] something happens. [You] might as well [save for] some trips down the while when you [can] travel still. But you’re not going to be working at 80 years old, are you?”

–U.S.-born man of Chinese origin in early 40s

“We were all four of us in one apartment, four siblings, plus the parents, so that’s six people in a house, which was very, very cramped.” SABA , FILM PARTICIPANT

Other common difficulties for Asian Americans living near or below the poverty line include having trouble paying their bills (42%), needing to get food from a food bank or a charitable organization (38%) and having problems paying their rent or mortgage (33%), the survey found. Smaller shares of Asian adults living above the poverty line say they experienced difficulties paying their bills (17%), got food from a food bank or a charity (6%) or had trouble paying their rent or mortgage (11%).

These findings were echoed in our focus groups, where participants recalled the stress and tension their families felt when things like this happened to them:

“My dad lost his car a couple of times. There was this one time where I remember it was nighttime. All of a sudden, a cop comes over to our home [with another person]. … And my dad was forced to give up his car to this stranger … because, I don’t know, he wasn’t paying off the car or something. And it was very humiliating, and my brothers wanted to get physical with that person because he was acting very arrogantly. My dad was able to eventually pay back the car and somehow get it back. But there were many times when we might not have had a roof over our heads.”

–U.S.-born man of Pakistani origin in late 20s

Asian immigrants face challenges navigating life and employment in the U.S.

Immigrant and U.S.-born Asians experience economic hardship in different ways. Asian immigrants in the focus groups discussed how a lack of English proficiency, navigating transportation and getting a good job all shape their experiences with economic hardship.

“I felt sad about life, didn’t know the language, didn’t know the roads. I had no friends, so I felt very sad.” PHONG , FILM PARTICIPANT (TRANSLATED FROM VIETNAMESE)

For example, not knowing English when they first arrived in the country created extra challenges when using local transportation systems and meeting basic daily life needs such as shopping for groceries:

“When we were very young, the most difficult thing we faced [after coming to the U.S.] was not being able to speak the language. Unless you lived in those times, you wouldn’t know. We didn’t know how to buy food. … We didn’t know the language and there was no interpreter available. … I didn’t know how to take the bus, I didn’t know where to go, or to which place they were taking me to school. When we were asked to go to the classroom, we didn’t know where to go. … There was no other way, because there was no communication.”

–Immigrant woman of Hmong origin in late 50s (translated from Hmong)

Language barriers also brought extra hurdles for Asian immigrants in the job market. Some focus group participants said it was hard to explain their skills to potential employers in English effectively, even if they had the relevant education or skills for the job and had learned English before they immigrated:

“After coming [to the U.S.], there were many problems to face, first … the language problem. We have read English … but we are not used to speaking. … We also had education … but since we can’t explain ourselves in English – what we can do, what we know … we are getting rejected [from jobs] as we cannot speak. … Another problem was that I had a child. My child was small. I could not go to work leaving him. At that time, my husband was working. He also had the same thing – he had education, but he could not get a good job because of the language. [As another participant] said, we had to work below the minimum wage.”

–Immigrant woman of Bangladeshi origin in late 30s (translated from Bengali)

Not wanting to be a burden influenced life choices of many U.S.-born participants

For many U.S.-born focus group participants, concerns about being a burden to their families shaped their childhoods and many of their life decisions:

“It’s difficult to talk to [my parents] because you grew up here and it’s just totally different from them growing up in Vietnam. … It’s the same like what [another participant] was saying, when you take off the burden to your parents, right? So I dropped out of college, just because I didn’t want them paying anymore. I just didn’t think that I was going to do or be anything in college, right? So I would rather work. So I started taking responsibility of my own and you start working really hard and you getting out of the house and helping them pay for bills.”

–U.S.-born man of Vietnamese origin in mid-40s

“My family’s struggling. Is education more important, [or] is working more important? I really felt that growing up because a lot of my friends, education – going to college and going to a techno school – wasn’t really on their radar, it wasn’t really something on their plan. I think talking to a lot of the folks and a lot of my friends during their time, they felt like they had to grow up to provide for their family or for you to find some type of income to kind of help their family. And so that really drove the direction of at least one of my friends, or a lot of my friends.”

–U.S.-born man of Hmong origin in mid-30s

Some U.S.-born focus group participants said that when reflecting on their childhoods, they could see the financial burden they had on their families in a way they did not realize as a child:

“At a certain point you become very aware of how much of a financial burden you are. You don’t ask for anything you want. Like, you don’t ask for prom. You don’t ask to join clubs. You don’t ask to go on field trips, things like that. You just know that it’s going to cause so much drain on your parents.”

–U.S.-born woman of Vietnamese origin in mid-20s

“[My parents] had like a lot of responsibilities, like … giving money back to their father, and then their sisters and brothers, helping them out back [in Pakistan]. … [My father] had to support us and then send money back constantly there. I didn’t know that until now, basically. … We would hardly see him. Maybe like on Sunday, we would see him a couple of hours. But it was on the weekdays, we would hardly see our father. He was always working.”

–U.S.-born woman of Pakistani origin in early 30s

Overcoming economic challenges

The survey found that when Asian adults living in poverty have needed help with bills, housing, food or seeking a job, about six-in-ten (61%) say they’ve turned to family or friends.

Some focus group participants mentioned that families and friends in their ethnic community were a great source of financial help. For others, the limited size of their ethnic community in the U.S. posed obstacles in obtaining assistance.

“My dad arrived in the U.S. when he was 26 years old, and I’m now 29 years old. … I have seven siblings and my parents who support me. And my parents didn’t have that, they didn’t have their parents to support them.” TANG , FILM PARTICIPANT

“It was very difficult during [my] study [at university]. … I had a scholarship, most of the part was scholarship; however, I had to pay something between $10,000 and $15,000 per semester. And I had to eat, I had to pay rent, I had to do everything. At the same time, there are many other things too, aren’t there? And there was always a stress about money. This semester is over now, how do I pay for the next? I had no clarity about what to do and not to do. In that situation, I approached those friends studying there or who came there a little earlier and were working to borrow money. … I [was] offered help by some friends and in finding a job and being helped for my needs.”

–Immigrant man of Nepalese origin in early 40s (translated from Nepali)

“We didn’t have a large Burmese community to ask for such help. It was not yet present. As we had no such community, when we had just arrived, we told close friends, got directions and went to ask for help.”

–Immigrant woman of Burmese origin in late 40s (translated from Burmese)

However, not all Asians living with economic hardship have asked for or received help. In the focus groups, participants shared why they or their families sometimes did not do so or felt hesitant. Fear of gossip and shame were mentioned multiple times:

“[I experienced financial difficulties after I first arrived in the U.S.] because I came here as a student. … It’s because I had to pay monthly rent and I paid for living expenses. I felt a little pressured when the monthly payment date approached. I had no choice but to ask my parents in Korea for money even as an adult, so I felt a sense of shame.”

–Immigrant woman of Korean origin in early 40s (translated from Korean)

“My cousin will [help me financially] without judgment. But, like, my aunt and elders – if it gets back to them [that I asked for help], it’s going to for sure come with judgment. And if I could figure it out myself, I will take the way without judgment.”

“To add on to what [another participant] said, if you go to the community [for help] or whatever, you know, by tomorrow everybody’s going to know it’s your problem.”

–U.S.-born woman of Pakistani origin in early 40s

Immigrants who came to the U.S. because of conflict are more familiar with government aid programs

Asian immigrants come to this country for a variety of reasons. In the focus groups, immigrant participants who came to the U.S. due to conflict or war in their origin countries referenced government assistance programs more often than those who came for other reasons.

This reflects a broader pattern among Asian immigrants overall: Those who came because of conflict or persecution have turned to federal, state or local governments for help with living expenses or employment more often than immigrants who came for economic or educational opportunities, according to the survey.

Focus group participants reflected on differences in the amount of government help available. Sometimes, they expressed a sense of unequal treatment:

“Vietnamese have this program where people got sponsored because of the war. So for other Asians, they feel that we are more privileged. Because from what I know, the Koreans and the Japanese, they must have money in order to come to America. As for us, we can come here through the refugee program, we can come here through the political program. They feel that we got more preferential treatment than other Asians in that regard.”

–Immigrant man of Vietnamese origin in early 40s (translated from Vietnamese)

“During the pandemic, I had to go through housing assistance and everything [to pay my rent]. Something like that with EBT [Electronic Benefits Transfer], how they send you stimulus checks. Korea doesn’t have any of that stuff.”

–U.S.-born woman of Korean origin in late 40s

“I think my community is relatively traditional. Because 20 years ago, we went straight to Chinatown fresh off the plane [after immigrating]. I still remember being in [the local] hospital, lots of social workers were there to help out, including with a medical insurance card, and applying for service, most importantly medical insurance. We all went to [the same] street. We relied on other Chinese people.”

–Immigrant man of Chinese origin in late 30s (translated from Mandarin)

Family ties contribute to increased awareness of government programs. For example, when asked how they learned about using government programs for help, some U.S.-born participants said:

“[I learned about the government programs from] my parents. I had to translate for them.”

–U.S.-born woman of Cambodian origin in mid-30s

“I was working at [a smoothie shop], and I was 17 and a half. … My college loan was like $50,000 [and I was] making $12.50 [an hour], how the hell am I supposed to be paying that month to month? Because my month-to-month was damn near $300, $500. My $12.50 an hour does not even cover for it, any of it, whatsoever. And, you know, me [having] been kicked out of home … I was living with my aunt. … I don’t want to burden her. So I had to go and ask her. She told me, ‘Hey, you should go and apply for food stamps.’”

–U.S.-born woman of Laotian origin in mid-30s

U.S.-born and immigrant focus group participants hold different views on education’s role in achieving a better future

“My friend, he started out at internship … I was too naive. I was laughing at the time, like, ‘Man you spend your time? You took buses there every day? No pay?’ … I just didn’t know the big picture behind [it]. I wish I could plan for [it] just like how they did.” PHUOC , FILM PARTICIPANT

Reflecting on what could lead to success and achieving the American dream, focus group participants who were born in or grew up in the U.S. emphasized the value of getting connected to the “right” opportunities:

“[You don’t have] to go to school to be successful. I mean, they say there are people who are book smart and just people who are street smart, you know. [As long as you] grow up and you know the right people … networking on the right people to get into things. Or, you know, the right people to do the right things to get to where you want to be in life.”

–U.S.-born man of Hmong origin in late 20s

Other participants said it would have helped if their families had a deeper understanding of how the education system prepares them for good careers:

“I feel if my parents were educated and they could have guided me in the right direction [for college] – although, they tried their best. I’m not blaming them. But, you know, if I had someone of a more academic background who knew the system … I will try my best to help my daughter out in college or help her choose what her major is going to be. [My parents couldn’t provide] that kind of help that really helped me in choosing my major. … And so I think just the background that we come from was not the best – or not having the full grasp of this system. … Versus someone who’s had parents here for multiple years, and their parents are now telling them, like, ‘Hey, this is not the right decision for you. Try doing this. This will be better in the long run.’”

–U.S.-born man of Pakistani origin in early 30s

Some also said firsthand knowledge of how to invest and how the U.S. financial system works would have helped:

“[In] the newer generation, we have access to learn all the things we need to, right? [I watch videos] that talk about, like, ‘These are the things you need to do in order to be financially successful. You need to invest your money, get into stocks,’ and stuff like that. And I know that not even 1% of my Hmong community knows anything about that stuff. … So I think we can be more financially successful, including myself, if we were to look more deeply into those things.”

–U.S.-born woman of Hmong origin in late 20s

“If you’re educated and know how, like, let’s say investments work, if you know how that’s done and then you apply it actually going through [someone] like investors or even stockbrokers, then you’ll see the fruits of your labor, or at least experience that, as opposed to not even having the knowledge or even the experience to begin with.”

–U.S.-born man of Cambodian origin in mid-30s

Some participants shared that even when they have some knowledge of financial institutions, they feel the system is working against them:

“I think systematic racism [is a barrier to achieving the American dream]. … I mean, if you own a car, you got to get the bank to approve you. … And they charge people with, like, no credit the highest fee, the most percentage, which are a lot of the folks [like] us trying to achieve the American dream. And then we go to neighborhoods that have the highest crime rate, we also have the most premiums. … And so I think that, one, we’re paying a lot more with much less … the system [was] set up well before minorities, and I think we’re pretty much going to fall behind.”

Many focus group participants also see the value of education, especially a college one, in leading toward a better future and achieving the American dream:

“[When I think of the American dream, it means] if you work hard enough, you can succeed. … You can get an education or a higher education. Then you have so many choices here and exposure to so many ideas and concepts that you wouldn’t otherwise.”

“The bachelor’s degree was important to me in the sense that I needed it so that I could apply for the jobs I wanted. … I guess it made things a bit easier.” THET , FILM PARTICIPANT (TRANSLATED FROM BURMESE)

But this sentiment resonated more with immigrant participants than those born in the U.S.:

“It is the education and the relevant knowledge I think that our Hmong people must have. We’ve been living in this country for the last 45 years. I think that to live in this country, it is very important for some people. I do not think everyone has a ‘lawyer’ or a ‘doctor’ in their house. If it happens, maybe we will reach our goal and the poverty will gradually disappear from our lives.”

–Immigrant woman of Hmong origin in mid-30s (translated from Hmong)

“I think if I obtain any degree, I would perhaps be able to do something.”

Assumptions about Asians hurt their chances of overcoming challenges

Participants shared that other people’s assumptions about Asians complicate their experience of living with economic hardship. Asians are often characterized as a “model minority” and portrayed as educationally and financially successful when compared with other groups.

Some participants shared how the assumption that all Asians are doing well hurt their ability to seek help:

“I have a daughter … she’s the only Asian in class. … Everybody tends to think, ‘She’s Asian; she’s so smart; her mommy has money. So you got to invite her to your birthday party because her mom is rich. [Her] mom will buy you a present.’ … I’m not rich, but because we’re Asian … she’s invited to all these parties.”

–U.S.-born woman of Hmong origin in early 30s

“What I can assume is that outside of our community, especially at the government level, [including] state level and central federal level here, we are missing out or not eligible for benefits. In their opinion, we are rich, no matter if we are working or not. [They may think] our stories may not be genuine. They may think we are making up a story [if we apply for benefits].”

Striving for the American dream

Freedom was a recurring theme in how focus group participants define their American dream. Two aspects were mentioned. The first was freedom from debt and stress over making ends meet, such as paying for everyday basic needs including rent and food. The second was the ability to make life choices freely without financial constraints, enabling them to live the life they aspire to.

Reaching the American dream

Half of Asians living near or below the federal poverty line say they believe they have achieved the American dream or are on their way to achieving it, the survey found. This includes 15% who say they have achieved it and 36% who say they are on their way. By comparison, among those living above the poverty line, 27% say they’ve achieved the American dream, and another 46% say they are on their way.

“Before I came to America, I had never heard of the American dream. … But because I was able to at least bring my son along, not only my life but also his education has improved significantly.” THEIN , FILM PARTICIPANT (TRANSLATED FROM BURMESE)

Among focus group participants, many were optimistic about reaching the American dream for themselves:

“[To me, the American dream is] the opportunity to come to America. I’ve learned a lot after reaching here. And I’ve been able to help my parents and relatives. Despite facing some troubles here, I’ve [provided them a] little financial assistance. I would’ve been unable to help them if I had been in Bhutan.”

–Immigrant woman of Bhutanese origin in late 40s (translated from Dzongkha)

Some participants were also hopeful that the next generation can achieve their American dream, even when they themselves are not there yet:

“When I think about the American dream, I look back at myself, because I belong to the first generation that came to this country. We all started very late. I know that this country will help you, but really it will not be easy for us. … What I think will help me to be happy is to ‘reach the American dream.’ If I can’t achieve it, then I will support my children so that they can reach the dream and I will be happy with them. I will give my children money to help them study.”

“If I can’t get [the American dream] for myself, it is okay. No matter how I am, I’ve already reached half of my life. But I’ve done as much as I can do for [my children], so my responsibility is done. If it’s their turn, I believe they will be able to do all that I couldn’t. I believe it.”

“I would like to own a home one day. And at this rate, and like many of my peers, that’s not a reachable goal right now. I don’t see it being a reachable goal for me for a very, very, very long time.” TANG , FILM PARTICIPANT

Still, the survey found that 47% of Asian adults living in poverty say the American dream is out of reach for them, higher than the share among those living above the poverty line (26%). Not all Asians living in poverty feel the same way about achieving the American dream, with U.S.-born Asians in the focus groups being less optimistic about reaching the American dream than immigrant Asians.

“In a certain era with the U.S. and the immigrants coming, the American dream [was] you come, you study, you do this, you can climb up the ladder, etc., etc. That was the big American dream. And I think there was a period where that was possible. Not any longer.”

Others also shared worries about their prospects of reaching the American dream because of different immigration histories and economic concerns such as inflation:

“I think I was conditioned to think too small to have the American dream. … Vietnamese Americans came over here at a very specific time. … There were Chinese Americans that came here like centuries ago, and they had the time to build generational wealth. We know that Vietnamese people came here in the ’70s. That’s not enough time to grow generational wealth.”

–U.S.-born woman of Vietnamese origin in late 20s

“I have kids. … They’re spoiled. … Now with inflation, houses are more expensive now [than 10, 20 years ago], right? Let’s say 20 years from now, when they buy a house, [the American dream] is going to be unachievable, you know what I mean? Like, unless they are a TikTok star or an entertainer or some kind. … [It’s] going to be tough.”

–U.S.-born man of Chinese origin in late 30s

Freedom from debt

For many participants, being debt-free is important to their vision of the American dream and promotes a life with more financial stability and independence:

“[If I could choose one dream in America, it would be to have] no debt. … When buying something, they always say, ‘Be careful, or you’ll be in debt.’ … And that is what got stuck in my throat.”

–Immigrant woman of Laotian origin in mid-30s (translated from Lao)

“[I haven’t achieved the American dream because I’m not] debt-free, you know, just trying to have extra money, instead of living paycheck to paycheck.”

“[My dream in America is] to be independent, for example, we always lived with the money of mom and dad. One is to be independent when you come here. Let me earn so much money that if I go to the store and buy something, I don’t even have to look at the price tag. That [is] my dream.”

–Immigrant woman of Nepalese origin in early 40s (translated from Nepali)

Participants shared that being debt-free also means having less stress and worry about making ends meet so that they can have extra resources and bandwidth to help their families:

“[The most important thing to achieving the American dream is] being debt-free and having real estate and income steadiness. … If you have rent income, you’re not trading in your time for money, so you have real estate. … You’re not stressing, you have time for your kids more, and your family. You’re probably a little bit happier.”

–Immigrant man of Cambodian origin in mid-20s

“The main thing is that I want to fully support my father and mother, and that I don’t have to worry about [how] I will support myself, or how I will pay my house rent. This is my number one.”

–Immigrant woman of Bangladeshi origin in late 20s (translated from Bengali)

For others, having a stable job is an important step to reaching the American dream:

“I want to have a job, and if I have a job, I’ll have money. I’m only working three and a half days a week right now, and I want to work more. I want more jobs the most, right now. I don’t need anything in America. Just a job.”

Freedom to dream

Focus group participants mentioned having the financial ability to not only meet their basic needs, but also pursue their dreams. Asians born in the U.S. mentioned the freedom to chase one’s aspirations without financial constraints more often than immigrants. Regardless of nativity, the ability to live the life they want is fundamental to many focus group participants’ definitions of the American dream:

“[When] everyone around you is immigrants and you’re all just trying to survive, the only thing you’re trained to think about is survival. But you’re not thinking about investment. Like, when you grow older and you start thinking, ‘Okay, I need to spend money to make money,’ that’s when you start thinking bigger. Yeah, I’m not just thinking about like having one home, I want 10 homes.”

“[Financial] stability is you have nothing but you could survive. [Financial] freedom is you have enough that you can do anything you want. That’s my financial freedom.”

“As it was so hard at that time … what motivated you to keep going and work so hard?” “My strength, my mindset was I wanted to earn money so that my children could have a bright future.” PHUOC AND PHONG , FILM PARTICIPANTS (TRANSLATED FROM VIETNAMESE)

The American dream, to some focus group participants, is about more than financial achievements. Finding happiness and helping others, ultimately leading them to live the life they desire, are key parts of their American dream.

“I want to thank [another participant] for saying ‘self-actualization,’ because personally I think it’s really powerful to be able to know what you want. Because then you’ll know what kind of job you want, what kind of house you want, whether you want to be in politics or not. Like, loving yourself and understanding yourself to your core, then that will be the [deciding factor].”

–Immigrant man of Cambodian origin in early 40s

“I think for me [the American dream] is that there is a house for me, with no interest, I do not owe any loan, my parents could live there comfortably, their struggle is over, and also I have enough … to be able to do something for Pakistan later [in life], God willing.”

–Immigrant woman of Pakistani origin in mid-20s (translated from Urdu)

“[Some people define success as having] lots of money, kids, cars, right? But that’s not really … what I would consider success. Success is something that – does it make you happy? … Are you happy every day going to work? Does it make you happy? When you come home, are you happy?”

About this project

Pew Research Center designed these focus groups and survey questions to better understand the experiences of Asian Americans living with economic hardship. By including participants who are among the Asian origin groups most likely to experience poverty, the focus groups aimed to capture, in their own words, their experiences and challenges in America today. The discussions in these groups may or may not resonate with all Asians living in poverty in the United States.

The project is part of a broader research portfolio studying the diverse experiences of Asians living in the U.S.

Survey and demographic analysis of Asians living in poverty

For a comprehensive examination of Asian adults’ experiences with economic hardship from Pew Research Center’s 2022-23 survey of Asian Americans, as well as a demographic analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey, read “Key facts about Asian Americans living in poverty.”

Videos throughout this data essay illustrate what focus group participants discussed. Individuals recorded in these video clips did not participate in the focus groups but were selected based on similar demographic characteristics and thematically relevant stories.

Watch the short film related to the themes in the data essay.

Methodological note

This multi-method research project examines the many facets of living with economic hardship among Asian Americans today.

The qualitative analysis is based on 18 focus groups conducted in February 2023 in 12 languages with 144 participants across four locations. Recruited participants had an approximate family income that is at or below 140%-250% of the federal poverty line, depending on the location. More information about the focus group methodology and analysis can be found in the focus group methodology .

The survey analysis included in this data essay is based on 561 Asian adults living near or below the poverty line from Pew Research Center’s 2022-23 survey of Asian Americans, the largest nationally representative survey of Asian American adults of its kind to date, conducted in six languages. For more details, refer to the survey methodology . For questions used in this analysis, refer to the topline questionnaire .

Acknowledgments

Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. The Center’s Asian American portfolio was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from The Asian American Foundation; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the Henry Luce Foundation; the Doris Duke Foundation; The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation; The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation; The Long Family Foundation; Lu-Hebert Fund; Gee Family Foundation; Joseph Cotchett; the Julian Abdey and Sabrina Moyle Charitable Fund; and Nanci Nishimura.

We would also like to thank the Leaders Forum for its thought leadership and valuable assistance in helping make this survey possible.

The strategic communications campaign used to promote the research was made possible with generous support from the Doris Duke Foundation.

This is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of a number of individuals and experts at Pew Research Center and outside experts.

• In this data essay, definitions of “living near or below the poverty line” and related terms differ between survey respondents and focus group participants. Refer to the terminology box for details. ↩

Sign up for our weekly newsletter

Fresh data delivered Saturday mornings

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Advertisement

Georgia Judge Rejects Effort to Dismiss Trump Case on Free Speech Grounds

The defense had argued that some of the charges were based on statements Donald Trump and his co-defendants made in 2020 that were constitutionally protected.

• Share full article

By Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim

• April 4, 2024 Updated 3:50 p.m. ET

A judge in Atlanta on Thursday rejected an effort by former President Donald J. Trump and his co-defendants to have the Georgia criminal case against them dismissed on grounds that it was based on comments that were protected by the First Amendment.

The case charges Mr. Trump and 14 of his supporters with taking part in a conspiracy to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. Defense lawyers had argued that some of the charges were based on statements the co-defendants had made in a political context, which they said was constitutionally protected speech.

“Take out the political speech, no charges,” Steven H. Sadow, Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer in Georgia, said at a hearing late last month.

But the ruling on Thursday from Judge Scott McAfee, of Fulton County Superior Court, noted that “free speech — including political speech — is not without restriction.”

“Even core political speech addressing matters of public concern is not impenetrable from prosecution if allegedly used to further criminal activity,” Judge McAfee wrote.

He noted, however, that the bar for certain legal challenges was higher in the pretrial phase. The judge wrote that he was not “foreclosing the ability to raise” a First Amendment challenge later in the case.

Mr. Sadow said in a statement that Mr. Trump and his co-defendants “will continue to evaluate their options regarding the First Amendment challenges.”

In a second ruling on Thursday, Judge McAfee rejected an attempt by David Shafer, a defendant who is the former head of the Georgia Republican Party, to strip language from the indictment referring to “duly elected and qualified presidential electors” and “false Electoral College votes.”

Mr. Shafer served as a fake elector for Mr. Trump in 2020, as part of a broader scheme to create slates of pro-Trump electors in swing states that were won by President Biden. And he played a major role in the former president’s effort to overturn the election results in Georgia. Judge McAfee ruled that “the challenged language is not prejudicial,” and that there was “no legal basis” to strike it.

The argument that the First Amendment should shield Mr. Trump from being prosecuted for efforts to overturn the 2020 election has previously been rejected by a U.S. District Court judge, Tanya Chutkan, in a separate federal prosecution unfolding in Washington, D.C.

The Georgia case is one of four criminal cases that Mr. Trump is facing. A trial date of April 15 has been set for a New York State case in which the former president is accused of covering up a sex scandal as he was running for president in 2016.

Mr. Trump seems unlikely to go to trial in Georgia before the November presidential election. For much of this year, the case took a detour as defendants sought the disqualification of Fani T. Willis, the district attorney leading it. They said that Ms. Willis had created a conflict of interest by engaging in a romantic relationship with Nathan J. Wade, a lawyer she had hired to manage the prosecution of Mr. Trump.

Last month, Judge McAfee ruled that an “actual” conflict of interest did not exist, but that “the appearance of impropriety” remained. To solve the problem, the judge gave Ms. Willis a choice: either Mr. Wade could step away from the case, or she and her entire office could do so. Mr. Wade resigned a few hours later.

Mr. Trump and other defendants in the case are seeking to appeal the judge’s decision.

Richard Fausset , based in Atlanta, writes about the American South, focusing on politics, culture, race, poverty and criminal justice. More about Richard Fausset

Danny Hakim is an investigative reporter. He has been a European economics correspondent and bureau chief in Albany and Detroit. He was also a lead reporter on the team awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. More about Danny Hakim

Our Coverage of the Trump Case in Georgia

Former president donald trump and 18 others face a sprawling series of charges for their roles in attempting to interfere in the state’s 2020 presidential election..

Fani Willis: Trump’s lawyers had argued that the Fulton County district attorney should be removed  from the case because of her relationship with Nathan Wade, a colleague and former romantic partner . A judge later ruled that Willis could continue leading the prosecution , but only if Wade withdrew from the case. Wade subsequently resigned .

Other Threats to Prosecution:  A special committee of the Georgia State Senate is also looking into accusations of misconduct by Willis , making it clear that the effort to disqualify her from the prosecution is not the only threat to her case .

RICO Charges:  At the heart of the indictment in Georgia  are racketeering charges under the state Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act . Here’s why such charges  could prove to be a powerful tool for the prosecution .

Who Else Was Indicted?:   Rudy   Giuliani , who led legal efforts in several states to keep the former president in power, and Mark Meadows , the former W hite House chief of staff, were among the 18 Trump allies  charged in the case.

Plea Deals: Sidney K. Powell , Kenneth Chesebro  and Jenna Ellis  — three lawyers indicted with Trump in the case — pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors   against the former president.