Social policy in Britain and the USA is less effective than in Germany at alleviating the inter-generational transmission of social and economic disadvantages, according to a new paper from the German Institute for Economic Research.
The paper tests the hypothesis that the extent of inter-generational income mobility, and the relative risk of poverty, differ according to factors in the three countries such as welfare state regime, family role patterns and social policy design.
Has social mobility in Britain been declining in recent decades, or has it been broadly static? Researchers at the London School of Economics have been trying to reconcile the different answers to that question given by incomes data as against social class data.
The researchers examine two divergent findings. On the one hand, family income is found to be more closely related to sons' earnings for a cohort born in 1970 compared with one born in 1958 – suggesting that social mobility has been declining. On the other hand, inter-generational mobility is found to be unchanged on the basis of trends in social class.
Low-income children are disadvantaged across the full spectrum of later developmental outcomes, a study by Bristol University has found.
The paper explores the relationship between family income and six child developmental outcomes in mid-childhood, spanning cognitive, emotional, behaviour and health domains.
The concept of 'intergenerational poverty' is of doubtful validity and lacks an evidence base, according to a review by the National Foundation for Educational Research.
The researchers conducted a wide-ranging review of UK and international studies, focusing on how children and young people can be helped to escape poverty and deprivation.
The 'crisis' of worklessness and welfare dependency in the UK cannot be blamed on the global economic recession, according to a new report from a right-of-centre think tank linked to the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith MP.