Poverty and Discrimination

Many ideas about poverty and discrimination are nothing more than politically driven assertions unsupported by evidence. And even politically neutral studies that do try to assess evidence are often simply unreliable. In Poverty and Discrimination, economist Kevin Lang cuts through the vast literature on poverty and discrimination to determine what we actually know and how we know it. Using rigorous statistical analysis and economic thinking to judge what the best research is and which theories match the evidence, this book clears the ground for students, social scientists, and policymakers who want to understand--and help reduce--poverty and discrimination. It evaluates how well antipoverty and antidiscrimination policies and programs have worked--and whether they have sometimes actually made the problems worse. And it provides new insights about the causes of, and possible solutions to, poverty and discrimination. The book begins by asking, "Who is poor?" and by giving a brief history of poverty and poverty policy in the United States in the twentieth century, including the Welfare Reform Act of 1996.Among the topics covered are the changing definition of poverty, the relation between economic growth and poverty, and the effects of labor markets, education, family composition, and concentrated poverty.The book then evaluates the evidence on racial discrimination in areas such as education, employment, and criminal justice, as well as sex discrimination in the labor market, and assesses the effectiveness of antidiscrimination policies. Throughout, the book is grounded in the conviction that we must have much better empirical knowledge of poverty and discrimination if we hope to reduce them.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments xi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1. The Content of This Book 2 2. Recent Developments in the Study of Poverty and Discrimination 4 3. The Object of This Book 8 4. Why Do Policy Analysts Disagree? The Limits of Statistical Arguments 10 5. Why Do Policy Analysts Disagree? The Role of Values 12 6. A Case Study: Retention in Grade 13 7. Concluding Remarks 17 8. Further Reading 18 9. Questions for Discussion 18 10. Appendix: A Quick Guide to Statistics 19 Part 1: POVERTY Chapter 2: Who Is Poor? 31 1. Evidence on the Importance of Relative Income 36 2. How the Government Measures Poverty 37 3. Valuing Nonmonetary Income 39 4. Over What Time Period Should We Measure Poverty? 40 5. Other Problems with the Official Measure 41 6. The National Academy of Sciences Report 42 7. Gathering the Data 42 8. Who Is Poor (By the Official Measure)? 43 9. Extreme Poverty 45 10. Homelessness 45 11. Hunger and Food Insecurity 48 12. Alternative Measures of Poverty 51 13. The Dynamics of Poverty 53 14. Why Does Poverty Last So Long for Some People? 56 15. Concluding Remarks 58 16. Further Reading 58 17. Questions for Discussion 59 18. Appendix: A Brief Note on Data 61 Chapter 3: The Evolution of Poverty Policy 63 1. Federal Poverty Programs, 1970-2000 63 2. Incentives under AFDC 66 3. The Earned Income Tax Credit 69 4. Cash or In-Kind Transfer: Which Is Better? 78 5. Concluding Remarks 81 6. Further Reading 81 7. Questions for Discussion 82 Chapter 4: Trends in Poverty 83 1. Trends Using the Official Measure 83 2. Trends in Poverty under Alternate Measures 86 3. Accounting for Trends 87 4. Concluding Remarks 102 5. Further Reading 103 6. Questions for Discussion 104 7. Appendix: Multivariate Analysis 104 Chapter 5: Labor Market Policies 108 1. Understanding Wage Inequality 108 2. Minimum Wage Laws 115 3. Living Wage Laws 120 4. Job Training Programs 121 5. Can Job Training Programs Reduce Poverty? 123 6. Evaluating the JTPA 125 7. Evaluating the Job Corps and Other Youth Programs 129 8. Training Programs and Tagging 133 9. Welfare to Work: Work First 134 10. Employer-Based Subsidies 136 11. Concluding Remarks 140 12. Further Reading 140 13. Questions for Discussion 140 14. Appendix: Adjusting for Program Nonparticipation 141 Chapter 6: Family Composition 143 1. Births to Single Mothers 144 2. Declining Marriage 146 3. Changing Social Attitudes 150 4. The Role of Welfare 156 5. Features of Welfare 158 6. Teenage Childbearing 161 7. Effects of Growing Up with a Single Parent 168 8. Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty 172 9. Policies Aimed at Infants and Toddlers 174 10. Preschool Programs 177 11. Programs for School-Age Children 182 12. Medicaid and SCHIP 190 13. Concluding Remarks 192 14. Further Reading 194 15. Questions for Discussion 196 Chapter 7: Concentrated Poverty 197 1. Life in High-Poverty Neighborhoods 198 2. Do Neighborhoods Matter? 198 3. The Gautreaux Program 201 4. Moving to Opportunity 202 5. Public Housing 203 6. Gangs 205 7. Community Development 206 8. Concluding Remarks 208 9. Further Reading 209 10. Questions for Discussion 210 Chapter 8: Education and Education Reform 211 1. Education and Earnings 212 2. Testing 213 3. Decentralization and School Quality 221 4. Using Tests to Increase School and District Accountability 236 5. Concluding Remarks 239 6. Further Reading 240 7. Questions for Discussion 241 Chapter 9: Welfare Reform 243 1. The Case for Reform 243 2. The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 245 3. Assessing the Effects of Welfare Reform 251 4. Effect on Welfare Receipt 252 5. Welfare Reform and Well-Being 254 6. Living Arrangements 258 7. Effects on Children and Adolescents 259 8. Concluding Thoughts 259 9. Further Reading 260 10. Questions for Discussion 261 Part 2: DISCRIMINATION Chapter 10: Discrimination: Theory 265 1. What Is Discrimination? 265 2. Theories of Discrimination: Prejudice 269 3. Prejudice in Imperfect Labor Markets 272 4. Transaction Costs Models 273 5. Statistical Discrimination 274 6. Self-Confirming Expectations 277 7. Concluding Remarks 280 8. Further Reading 281 9. Questions for Discussion 282 Chapter 11: Race Discrimination in the Labor Market 283 1. Trends in Black-White Earnings Differentials 283 2. Explaining the Decline in the Wage Gap 287 3. Evidence on Current Discrimination 293 4. Testing for Discrimination: Legal Perspectives 307 5. Affirmative Action in Employment 311 6. Affirmative Action in Public Employment 313 7. Concluding Remarks 314 8. Further Reading 315 9. Questions for Discussion 316 Chapter 12: Race Discrimination and Education 317 1. The Black-White Test Score Gap 317 2. Discrimination in Education 325 3. Affirmative Action in Education 330 4. Concluding Remarks 332 5. Further Reading 333 6. Questions for Discussion 333 Chapter 13: Race Discrimination in Customer Markets and the Judicial System 334 1. Housing 335 2. Discrimination in Other Markets 345 3. Discrimination in the Justice System 349 4. Concluding Remarks 351 5. Further Reading 352 6. Questions for Discussion 352 Chapter 14: Sex Discrimination 354 1. Theory 354 2. Is There Discrimination against Women in the Labor Market? 360 3. Discrimination, Marriage, and Children 364 4. Sexual Orientation 366 5. Trends in the Female/Male Wage Ratio 368 6. Comparable Worth 373 7. Concluding Remarks 375 8. Further Reading 377 9. Questions for Discussion 378 Chapter 15: Conclusion: An Agenda to Decrease Poverty and Discrimination? 379 1. The Value and Limits of Research 379 2. The Value and Limits of a Strong Labor Market 381 3. Family and Early Childhood Programs 383 4. Education 385 5. Addressing the Needs of High-Poverty Neighborhoods 385 6. Race Discrimination and Inequality 386 7. Addressing Inequality 387 8. Health Care 388 9. Concluding Remarks 388 Author Index 391 Subject Index 395

About the Author :
Kevin Lang is Chairman of the Boston University Department of Economics and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is coeditor of the journal Labour Economics.

Review :
Honorable Mention for the 2007 Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Sociology and Social Work, Association of American Publishers "This volume could be usefully employed as a textbook in upper-level undergraduate and more advanced courses in poverty and discrimination, as well as a reference work for specialists... Highly recommended."--Choice "Poverty and Discrimination is social science at its best. The issues are interesting, the analysis is first rate, the organization is excellent, and ... [the] data is exemplary."--Arnold Kling, EconLog "Kevin Lang has written a significant book that assesses recent developments in the study of poverty and discrimination, reviews the formal theories, and provides insight into their validity through statistical analysis; in essence, a book that addresses the basic issues of poverty and discrimination. It is an excellent text for economists, social scientists, and public policy makers."--Kathryn Goering Reid, Journal of Children and Poverty "Readers of the book will become better critics of statistical evidence used in policy debate sand more skeptical of strong claims about a policy's success (or failure). They also will more fully understand the difficulty of conducting highly credible policy research and crafting effective policies."--Rohert D. Plotnick, Industrial and Labor Relations Review "Lang has written an excellent book that can serve as a useful tool for researchers, students, and policymakers. The author clearly is an expert in the field who has thoroughly researched his topic."--Casey P. Homan, Monthly Labor Review