Poverty Research

THE VAST MAJORITY of poverty research examines some aspect of the cause of poverty, and is typically driven by current events that have changed the amount and/or depth of poverty. Perhaps the first wave of poverty research came in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, which brought fast economic growth but also dire working conditions and urban poverty.

In 1879, Henry George captured this paradox in his popular book, Progress and Poverty. This was only the beginning of several books and articles from this era, including Life and Labour of the People in London, a 17volume study published between 1889 and 1903 by Charles Booth; The Philadelphia Negro by W.E.B. DuBois (1899); and Robert Hunter's Poverty (1904). These works are significant for several reasons other than bringing attention to poverty. First, these texts represent some of the earliest attempts at data analysis. Second, many of these early analyses use logic that mirrors modern economic theory. For example, DuBois's summary of black poverty in Philadelphia is remarkably close to human capital theory, noting that black disadvantage is partially due to lower skills and education caused by slavery. DuBois also argues that relatively few high-skill trades held by blacks suffer from competition from European immigrants. Other arguments from this era are later echoed in economic theory that proposes removing trade restrictions to increase income, and argues for increasing consumption by decreasing saving.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the great migration into the United States led to a significant amount of ethnic conflict. Since many immigrants worked low-skilled jobs, they often faced an ethnic backlash and poverty at the same time. Polish Peasant, a five-volume set by William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki published from 1918 to 1920, examines the connection among ethnicity, social adjustment, and poverty. Just after the Great Depression, the most common poverty works focused on its causes, unemployment, and predicting the impact of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Major works on unemployment during the Great Depression analyze the role of family relations in the recovery from the Depression and discuss unemployment's sociological impact.

The next major wave of poverty research came during Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty in the mid1960s. War on Poverty legislation created federally funded programs that fought poverty at both the national and local levels. Major national programs included the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid, tax cuts, and college grants for the poor. The vast majority of local poverty initiatives were created by the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (EOA), which established a variety of community-run but federally financed programs, including Head Start, Job Corps, Meals on Wheels, adult basic education, food pantries, and homeless shelters.

Whether or not the War on Poverty was successful fills a significant amount of literature. According to U.S. Census data, over 18 percent of American families lived below the poverty line in 1960, and by 1968 this figure had dropped to 10 percent. While this is a dramatic decrease, it is unclear how much was caused by War on Poverty legislation and how much was caused by the long economic expansion of the 1960s. Many researchers would later find connections between poverty and the macroeconomy via employment growth. Since many living below the poverty line are also unemployed, job creation during economic expansions often pulls those who find work above the poverty line.

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