This paper examines child poverty in Sweden and the U.S. by presenting a three-equation model which examines separate effects due to labor market differences and welfare state differences, using data from the LIS.

The living standard of the least well-off members of society - industrialized or not - is of public policy and ethical interest. One way to examine differences between societies in this respect is to study the extent and severity of income poverty between countries and over time. While poverty...

This paper examines the relationship between income and the extent of material hardship and explores other factors that might affect hardship. Using panel data from the Women's Employment Study, we examine the incidence of material hardship from 1997 to 2003 among current and former welfare...

In the past twenty years, the labor force participation and earnings of women, especially married women, have risen dramatically. Over the same period, men's earnings have increased only modestly, and the distribution of family income has grown less equal. In this paper, we analyze the impact of...

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act(PRWORA) of 1996 represents a dramatic change in the US welfare state.One of its key goals was to move lone mothers, even those with youngchildren, from welfare to work. Early evidence suggests that, in concertwith a strong...

In October 1998, we convened scholars, policy makers, and practitionersto review what we know about the processes that affect childdevelopment and how we might wisely increase public and privateinvestments in children to promote both their well-being and theproductivity of the next generation....