Shifting Resources: The Next Generation of Research on Economic Changes, Public Policy Changes and Poverty

Investigators:   Rebecca M. Blank, Robert F. Schoeni, Sheldon H. Danziger

The extent of poverty is significantly determined by the health of the economy. As seen in the early 1980s, changes in the level of economic demand can throw large numbers of less-skilled workers out of employment. Likewise, continued economic growth can create substantial gains in job experience and wage rates among the less skilled, as in the late 1990s. Thus, poverty rates and the extent of economic need are strongly influenced by macro-economic changes.
Multiyear funding will support a project to examine the intersection between public policy and macro-economic trends and their impact on poverty during the economic expansion of the late 1990s, the ensuing recession and the current period of modest growth. The project will commission 12 papers from top scholars, researchers and policy analysts on topics such as the opportunities for job retention and advancement and economic progress among low-wage populations, and how states responded to the recession with regard to social assistance programs. The papers will be presented at a conference of policymakers and policy analysts from the federal and state levels, and published and disseminated to help seed ideas for future research on these topics.

Funding Period: 01/01/2004 to 12/31/2005

PSC Research Themes:

Income Inequality and Poverty (Human Capital, Labor and Wealth)
Politics (Ideational Factors)


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