An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will identify policies and programs with the potential to reduce long-term, intergenerational poverty. This study is designed to complement and will build on the findings, conclusions, and recommendations in the recent Congressionally mandated report, A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty | The National Academies Press (nap.edu) (https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25246/a-roadmap-to-reducing-child-poverty). The committee will apply a racial/ethnic disparities lens in analyzing the literature on key determinants of entrenched poverty and the evidence on the effectiveness of programs designed to address those determinants. It will assess the implications of that analysis for policy and make recommendations to guide future federal investments in long-term measures to reduce intergenerational poverty.
Specifically, the committee will:
1) Briefly assess the available research documenting the correlates and causes of the perpetuation of poverty from childhood into adulthood. The committee will evaluate the racial disparities and structural factors that contribute to this cycle. Based on that review of evidence, the committee will identify key drivers of long-term, intergenerational poverty;
2) Assess existing research on the effects of major assistance, intervention, and education programs on intergenerational poverty. Based on the available evidence, the committee may assess relevant programs in the United States and other industrialized countries (such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland) and may consider both well-established programs and innovative ideas developed at the state or local level or in other countries that have the potential to be scaled up for use nationwide. In reviewing the literature, the committee will:
i. consider impacts on intergenerational poverty, if possible as defined by the Supplemental Poverty Measure;
ii. consider the distribution of poverty-reducing impacts across demographic groups (as defined by such characteristics as race and ethnicity, rural or urban location, immigrant status, age of parent, and age of child);
iii. consider behavioral responses to these programs that may influence their poverty-reducing effects (for example, the Earned Income Tax Credit creates incentives to increase parental earnings);
3) Identify policies and programs that have the potential to significantly reduce the effects of the key drivers of long-term, intergenerational poverty identified in question 1 above and for which there is strong evidence that they will reduce multi-generational poverty. The committee will consider expansions to existing federal programs as well as the possibility of developing new programs. The committee's review will include analyses of program costs, benefits, and efficacy. The committee may directly compare programs with one another to determine which efforts make the most efficient use of funds and hold the greatest promise to end intergenerational poverty. In the case of programs identified as having strong potential to reduce intergenerational poverty, the committee will provide analysis in a way that will allow federal policy makers to identify and assess potential combinations of policy investments that can best meet their policy objectives. To the extent possible, the committee will also identify combinations of programs that may result in synergies or redundancies, in terms of either the programs' effects or the populations targeted.
4) Identify key, high-priority gaps in the research needed to help develop effective policies for reducing intergenerational poverty in the United States.