-Caveat Lector-
myth-
"Dependence passes between generations; children raised in families that
receive welfare assistance are themselves three times more likely to be on
welfare than other children when they become adults."
Heritage Foundation 1
Reality-
POVERTY, not welfare, gets transmitted from generation to generation.
Women who grow up on welfare are more likely to receive welfare than other
women. But that doesn't mean that welfare CAUSES intergenerational
dependence. Children who grow up in poor families are more likely than
others to be poor, just as children who grow up in rich families are more
likely than others to be rich. 2
A family's income level is a good predictor of how well its children will
be educated.
Adult sons have a 60% chance of having approximately the same income as
their fathers. 3
Public school quality, largely determined by educational expenditures per
student, is strongly influenced by the size of the local tax base.
Wealthy communities generally have better schools than poor ones.
School quality has a positive effect on future earnings, even controlling
for differences in family background 4
In 1992, more than 40% of high school dropouts explained that they had to
support their families, had to care for a family member or were unable to
work and go to school athte same time. 5
POOR PEOPLE HAVE LESS WEALTH TO TRANSFER TO THEIR CHILDREN.
IN 1989, MORE THAN HALF THE POOR HAD NO FINANCIAL ASSETS AT ALL, AND MORE
THAN HALF THE REMAINDER HAD LESS THAN $1,000. 6
"The real explanation of why the poor are where they are is that they made
the mistake of being born to the wrong parents, in the wrong section of
the country, in the wrong industry, or in the wrong racial or ethnic
group. Once that mistake has been made, they could have been paragons of
will and morality, but most of them would never even have had a chance to
get out of the other America."
Michael Harrington 7
-----
1 Heritage Foundation, Combattiang Family Disintegration.., Wash DC,
4-8-94, p. 8
2 Leonard Beeghley, The Structure of Social Stratification in the United
States, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 198; Gary Solon, "Intergenerational
Income Mobility in the United States," American Economic Review, 82,
no. 3 (June 1992).
3 Jere Behrman and Paul Taubman, "The Intergenerational Correlation
Between Children's Adult Earnings and Their Parents' Income: Results
from the Michigan Panel Study of Dynamics," Review of Income and Wealth
36, no. 2 (June 1990), pp. 115-27.
4 David Card and Alan Kreuger, "Does School Quality Matter?" Journal of
Political Economy 100, no. 1 (February 1992), p. 1040.
5 Drop-Out Rates in the US1992, National Center for Education Statistics.
6 Patricia Ruggles, Drawing the Line: Alternative Poverty measures and
Their Implications for Public Policy (Wash DC: Urban Institute Press,
1990), p. 150.
7 Michael Harrington, The Other America: Poverty in the United States,
Baltimore: Penguin, 1963, p. 182.
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