A Way to Break the Cycle of Poverty

     I thought that this opinion column   in the NY Times on December 2 by David Kirp was worth sending to you on its own and not as part of the Weekly Reader. Prof. Kirp is a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. His article A Way to Break the Cycle of Poverty shows that research establishes that every dollar invested in safety net initiatives for children—whether in high-quality early childhood education, Medicaid or SNAP—can change the arc of their lives. He concludes that these studies show that the benefits from these programs reverberate into the next generation, helping to break the cycle of poverty.

     Kirp says that the long-term impact of quality prekindergarten is well-established and widely known. That is why it is high on the national political agenda. The fact that lifelong benefits—including greater academic success, higher earnings and better health, begins with two years of high-quality preschool has commanded widespread attention. A study published this summer by James Heckman and his colleagues demonstrates that the preschoolers are also better off because of their experience as parents.. As preschoolers grew up, they became better educated and developed greater socio-economic skills than a control group. They became better parents—their children grew up in more stable two-parent families that earned, on average, $10,000 more a year—enough to lift many of them out of poverty. Compared to the control group, the preschoolers were substantially less likely to have been suspended or assigned to special education, and more likely to have graduated from high school. Now in their 20s, they are more likely to have jobs and be in good health and less likely to be divorced. The bottom line, according to Kirp, is that good early education accelerates upward social mobility across generations.

     Kirp cites a number of other studies that demonstrate the impact of other safety-net programs on the next generation. Expanding Medicaid eligibility for low-income families was evaluated by Andrew Goodman-Bacon in a recent American Economic Review article. Goodman-Bacon concludes that early childhood Medicaid eligibility reduced mortality and disability, increases employment and improves health. He concluded that since the 1960s, “Medicaid has saved the government more than its original cost and saved more than 10 million quality adjusted life years.” Another study has found that when children who grew up in Medicaid-eligible households were in their 20s, they were more likely to have gone to college than those families, despite their similar economic circumstances, who had the misfortunate of living in a state where their families were not eligible for Medicaid. Now they are earning more and paying more taxes.

     The earned income tax credit has also been of substantial benefit to children. If you add $1000 to a family’s earned income tax credit when a youth is 13 to 18 years old, Jacob Bastian and Katherine Michelmore have found, the likelihood increases that they will graduate from high school, complete college and have a decent-paying job.

     A 2018 report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concluded that SNAP has helped to dramatically reduce child poverty and that twice as many children would live in deep poverty without SNAP benefits. Resent research has shown that the food stamp program has had a decades-long effect on the health, economic self-sufficiency and the overall well-being of children who came of age in those families. These children are more likely to graduate from high school and enroll in college, earn more and stay out of prison. Hilary Hoynes, a public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and her colleagues calculate that for every dollar that the food stamp program costs, the long-run benefits to the child—increased income and longer life expectancy—are a whopping $56. This year, SNAP benefits will rise 27 percent on average. Not only will those extra dollars keep food on the table for millions of families; their children will get a lifelong boost.

     Kirp concludes that in the long term, social safety net programs for families with young children reduce the need for government support over the course of two generations. The research convincingly establishes that every dollar invested in safety net initiatives for children---whether in high-quality early education, Medicaid or SNAP—can change the arc of their lives. That’s the surest way to break the cycle of poverty.

     This analysis should give all of us something to think about.

Jim Schuyler VACAP