Born poor, forever poor? Intergenerational transmission of poverty

We know little about intergenerationally transmitted (IGT) poverty in developing countries. In the absence of longitudinal data, how can we better understand whether and how poverty is transmitted from older to younger generations? Does it also move from younger to older generations? Can we identify the points of transmission where IGT processes can be affected by external factors?

A paper from the Chronic Poverty Research Centre proposes a framework for understanding IGT poverty in developing countries. Household-level data that are useful for poverty dynamics analysis have been provided for only 12 of the 110 low and medium human development countries. Because of this, the paper suggests IGT poverty is best analysed through focusing on the transfer, extraction and absence or transfer of capitals – human, socio-cultural, social-political, financial/material and environmental/natural. Examining the structures, processes and livelihoods strategies that affect IGT poverty, the study points to the importance of analysing HIV/AIDS, migration patterns, socio-legal entitlement norms, labour market structures and the presence or absence of social safety nets and social services.

Key points include:

• IGT capital can be both provided and extracted, influencing the poverty or well-being of both the source and the recipient.
• Intergenerational transfers of poverty-related capital are influenced by the broader socio-economic environment: for example, where there is low quality schooling and a market for children’s work, poor families may see little value in educating children.
• Where there is differential parental investment of time and capital in girls and boys, a negative intergenerational impact of gender-discriminatory investments can emerge.
• The association between parent and child education status can work through several routes, many of which are poorly understood even in the developed world. It is difficult to separate out the various means by which educational achievement is translated into socio-economic mobility.
• Inheritable and communicable diseases, including the mother-to-child-transmission of HIV and tuberculosis, can play a significant role in IGT poverty through effects on health, productivity and household assets.
• Cycles of debt and bonded labour remain effective mechanisms of IGT poverty.

Is poverty that spans generations difficult to remove, and if so, why? Controversial ‘culture of poverty’ theories suggest that people become and remain poor due to their beliefs and behaviours. The paper suggests that it may be more relevant to consider IGT ‘cultures of coping’ among the poor, and IGT ‘cultures of wealth’ among the rich and middle class as significant factors in keeping the poor in poverty.

What are the knowledge gaps and policy implications of IGT poverty? How can we encourage ‘positive deviance’ – preventing a child born into poverty from becoming a poor adult? The report argues:

• the need to plug the gap in understanding the intergenerational transmission of socio-cultural and socio-political assets, including coping strategies, in the developing world
• greater focus on determining the structural and individual characteristics that foster resilience in order to facilitate protection from IGT poverty and shocks
• greater preventative focus on such proven risk minimisation activities as educating parents in order to decrease risks to children
• the need to ask whether there are cases in which an action that serves the best interests of an individual while in her childhood may not serve the best interests of the same individual in her future (adult) life or those of her own children
• chronic poverty reduction can be enhanced by effective mechanisms that transfer assets across generations (such as South Africa’s non-contributory universal pension system).

Source(s):
‘Frameworks for understanding the intergenerational transmission of poverty and well-being in developing countries’, CPRC Working Paper 8, Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, by Karen Moore, November 2001 Full document.

Funded by: Department for International Development, UK

id21 Research Highlight: 24 January 2003

Further Information:
Karen Moore
Institute for Development Policy and Management
University of Manchester
Crawford House, Precinct Centre
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9GH
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)161 275 0809
Contact the contributor: Karen.Moore@man.ac.uk

IDPM, University of Manchester, UK

Chronic Poverty Research Centre, IDPM, UK

Other related links:
See the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre for further research

'The Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty: Some Causes and Policy Implications', the Discussion Paper, IADB, by Tarsicio Castañeda , Enrique Aldaz-Carroll 1999

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