The Dynamics of Child Poverty in Industrialised Countries
Edited by Bruce Bradbury (SPRC), Stephen P. Jenkins (ISER, Essex) and John Micklewright (UNICEF)

Cambridge University Press, July 2001, 328 pages
Hardback: ISBN 0521803101
Paperback: ISBN 0521004926

Download Contents and (most of) Chapter 1

Book Summary

A child poverty rate of ten percent could mean that every tenth child is always poor, or that all children are in poverty for one month in every ten. Where reality lies between these extremes is vital to understanding the problem facing many countries of poverty among the young. This study goes beyond the standard analysis of child poverty based on poverty rates at one point in time and documents how much movement into and out of poverty by children there actually is, covering a range of industrialized countries - the USA, UK, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Hungary and Russia. Five main topics are addressed: conceptual and measurement issues associated with a dynamic view of child poverty; cross-national comparisons of child poverty rates and trends; cross-national comparisons of children's movements into and out of poverty; country-specific studies of child poverty dynamics; and the policy implications of taking a dynamic perspective.

Reviews

‘This book is a major step forward in our understanding of the dynamics of child poverty in rich and transition nations. There are both conceptual and empirical breakthroughs here. For the first time, one can systematically and comparatively assess exits and entries to poverty, their associated changes in family structure and incomes, and the policy implications of these changes in seven nations. The volume will stand as a landmark piece of research for quite sometime. Copies belong on the shelves of academics and policymakers with an interest in poverty, social exclusion and its alleviation amongst our most important future resource, our children.’

Professor Tim Smeeding, Maxwell School, Syracuse University

‘We still know surprisingly little about the dynamics of childhood poverty and hence about the nature, causes and consequences of the deprivations suffered by so many of the world’s youngest generation. This volume is an exceedingly valuable contribution to our understanding - at long last the gaps in ourknowledge are being filled, and in some cases with unanticipated results. All that is needed now is the political courage to respond.’

Professor Robert Walker, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham

Chapter Contents

Part I. Issues and Cross-National Evidence: 

	1. Beyond the snapshot: a dynamic view of child poverty
		Bruce Bradbury, Stephen P. Jenkins and John Micklewright; 
	2. Conceptual and measurement issues 
		Bruce Bradbury, Stephen P. Jenkins and John Micklewright; 
	3. Child poverty across 25 countries 
		Bruce Bradbury and Markus Jäntti; 
	4. The dynamics of child poverty in seven industrialised nations 
		Bruce Bradbury, Stephen P. Jenkins and John Micklewright; 

Part II. Topics in Child Poverty Dynamics: 
	
	5. Income mobility and exits from poverty of American children 
		Peter Gottschalk and Sheldon Danziger; 
	6. Child poverty in Germany: trends and persistence
		Christian Schluter; 
	7. Poverty among British children: chronic or transitory? 
		Martha S. Hill and Stephen P. Jenkins; 
	8. Child income poverty and deprivation dynamics in Ireland 
		Brian Nolan, Bertrand Maître and Dorothy Watson; 
	9. Young people leaving home: the impact on poverty in Spain 
		Olga Cantó and Magda Mercader-Prats;
	10. Are children being left behind in the transition in Hungary? 
		Peter Galasi and Gyula Nagy; 
	11. Mobility and poverty dynamics among Russian children 
		Jeni Klugman and Alexandre Kolev; 

Part III. Summary and Policy Conclusions:

	12. Thinking about children in time 
		J. Lawrence Aber and David T. Ellwood.