Policies to promote economic stability, asset building, and child development

Melinda Lewis, Reid Cramer, William Elliott and Aleta Sprague

Children and Youth Services Review, 2014, vol. 36, issue C, 15-21

Abstract: This paper makes the case that the pattern low-income families walk into is a present time-oriented or consumption-based welfare system, with attendant incentives and disincentives; in contrast, the pattern higher-income families walk into is future-oriented or asset-based. These two divergent systems do not deliver equitable educational outcomes for children. To ensure that higher education can play an equalizing role in the U.S. economy, the nation needs a better welfare system for the poor, one that builds on the asset-accumulation structures that serve the needs of advantaged families. This new institutional approach would undo the current system of educational advantages for higher-income children over low-income children and, in turn, redress educational inequalities in America. In order to create a level playing field welfare policies are needed that enable low-income families to accumulate assets. In this paper we discuss policies that might help low-income families accumulate assets, including modifications to existing income supports, as well as the development of complementary asset-based institutions.

Keywords: Assets; CDAs; Income shocks; Asset shocks; Asset poverty; Asset policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:36:y:2014:i:c:p:15-21

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.10.012

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