National Academies report identifies ways to reduce intergenerational poverty in US

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 25, 2023 — A report released Thursday, Sept. 21, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine identifies evidence-based programs and policies, such as increased K-12 spending for school districts serving low-income students, to combat intergenerational poverty in the United States. The comprehensive report – written by a committee chaired by Greg J. Duncan, Distinguished Professor of education at the University of California, Irvine – offers valuable insights into addressing one of the nation’s most pressing challenges.

Intergenerational poverty refers to the cycle in which children raised in low-income families experience poverty as adults. The report reveals that 34 percent of children who were born around 1980 and grew up in households below the poverty line were continuing to live in low-income households when they were in their 30s. Black and Native American children are disproportionately affected by this cycle, with intergenerational poverty rates at 37 percent and 46 percent, respectively, highlighting the deep-rooted issues of disparity and discrimination.

“The costs of persistent intergenerational poverty fall on society as a whole,” Duncan said. “Intergenerational poverty reduces national prosperity and places increased burdens on the educational, criminal justice and healthcare systems. Our report sifts through decades of policy research to identify ‘best bet’ policies and programs for overcoming these challenges.”

The report addresses key areas in which to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, including:

“Intergenerational poverty is a thorny, multidimensional problem,” Duncan said. “We found it encouraging that we could identify promising, evidence-based programs in most of the driver areas we investigated. In other words, the breadth of the problem of intergenerational poverty is matched by the breadth of potential solutions.”

While the report identifies several programs and policies, it also calls for further research to enhance the understanding of intergenerational mobility and economic opportunity. It recommends high-quality data collection and ways of reducing the barriers to confidential federal and state data access that respect and protect the privacy of respondents’ information.

Conducted by the National Academies’ committee on policies and programs to reduce intergenerational poverty, this report was sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the Bainum Family Foundation; the Doris Duke Foundation; the Foundation for Child Development; the National Academy of Sciences’ W.K. Kellogg Fund; the Russell Sage Foundation; and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

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