Archive - Mar 30, 2010
What does it take to escape poverty?
What's most effective in helping people climb out of poverty? Jobs and education, according to New York Times columnist Nick Kristof, who cites several recent studies by economists.
Quality youth education programs targeting youth pay off immediately and in the long run — especially those that focus on ninth-grade students, considered a critical juncture for at-risk youth. And jobs are important because they boost entire families.
But as Kristof points out, both employment and school funding have been severely affected by the economic crisis, "harming the two most effective stairways out of poverty." In response, Kristof is calling for a greater commitment.
This wave of research suggests that there’s no magic bullet, that helping people is hard, and that even when pilot programs succeed they can be difficult to scale up. But evidence also suggests that we increasingly have the tools to chip away at poverty. We know what to do if we just can summon the political will.
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