Are the Kids All Right? Intergenerational Mobility and Child Well-being in Canada

In this chapter, Miles Corak provides a useful overview of the state of knowledge on the issue of child poverty and most importantly reveals the complexity of the factors at play and the important gaps in our understanding of the underlying causes and effects. Corak finds that, except for those families who are very well off and able to transfer wealth to their children, the primary way in which families can influence the future economic status of their children is indirectly by investing both financial and non-financial resources in their overall ability to succeed in the labour market. He concludes that it is very difficult to gauge the effectiveness of government policy based on long-term productivity arguments and it may be that the best argument for reducing child poverty and related programs is based on the actual and present benefits provided to the children involved.