The Effects of Anti-Poverty Policy on Poverty Exits versus Poverty Cycling among Poor Children

Shelley K. Irving, Pennsylvania State University

This study examines the potential impact of several public policies on poverty exits among children: (1) the Earned Income Tax Credit, (2) minimum wage laws, (3) child-care subsidies, (4) job retraining/job transition programs, (5) college attendance grants, and (6) affordable/subsidized housing programs using data from the 1996-1999, 2001-2003, and 2004-2007 Panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation merged with state-level data from several sources. Using multinomial logistic regression models in a discrete-time event history modeling framework and a multicategory poverty exit outcome (remain in poverty, exit poverty with reentry and exit poverty without reentry), the current study improves and adds to the existing research on poverty exits. This study is unique because it examines not only the impact of anti-poverty policies on poverty exits, but it also determines whether the effects differ for poverty exits and poverty cycling and whether the effects differ across racial/ethnic and nativity groups.