Concentrated Poverty

Ruby K. Payne, author of A Framework for Understanding Poverty, distinguishes
between situational poverty, which can generally be traced to a specific incident within
the lifetimes of the person or family members in poverty, and generational poverty,
which is a cycle that passes from generation to generation, and goes on to argue that
generational poverty has its own distinct culture and belief patterns.
Causes of The Cycle
The following are causes of poverty:
Low productivity
Low salary
Poor infrastructure and governance
Business failure
Ignorance, lack of skills and technology
Unhealthiness or diseases
Disaster
Inability to access resources such as land, finance, information, and technical
assistance
No ongoing education
Lack of education and knowledge
Unemployment
Marital status: Single parenthood
Belief that one is self-limited and destined to remain trapped in poverty
Belief that one is a victim and powerless to break free from poverty
Family Background
A 2002 research paper titled "The Changing Effect of Family Background on the
Incomes of American Adults" analyzed changes in the determinants of family
income between 1961 and 1999, focusing on the effect of parental education,
occupational rank, income, marital status, family size, region of residence, race,
and ethnicity. The paper (1) outlines a simple framework for thinking about how family
background affects children's family and income, (2) summarizes previous research on
trends in intergenerational inheritance in the United States, (3) describes the data used
as a basis for the research which it describes, (4) discusses trends in inequality among
parents, (5) describes how the effects of parental inequality changed between 1961 and
1999, (6) contrasts effects at the top and bottom of the distribution, and (7) discusses
whether intergenerational correlations of zero would be desirable. The paper concludes
by posing the question of whether reducing the intergenerational correlation is an
efficient strategy for reducing poverty or inequality.
Because improving the skills of disadvantaged children seems relatively easy, it is an
attractive strategy. However, judging by American experience since the 1960s,
improving the skills of disadvantaged children has proved difficult. As a result, the paper
suggests, there are probably cheaper and easier ways to reduce poverty and inequality,
Page 34 of 134