A Universal Child Allowance to Reduce Poverty and Improve Child Development
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty Webinar
To reduce child poverty and income instability, improve child development, and eliminate extreme poverty among US families with children, this webinar focuses on a proposal by nine leading poverty scholars on converting the Child Tax Credit and child tax exemption into a universal monthly child allowance. Their proposal rests on principles they argue should undergird the design of any program providing financial assistance to families with children: universality, with eligibility for all US children; accessibility through monthly electronic benefit transfers; adequate payment levels (around $250 to $300 per month) to meet basic child-related needs; and more generous support for families with young children, whose needs are greater. Simulating the effect of the proposal using data from the 2014 Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey, they find that this universal child allowance proposal could reduce the child poverty rate by over 40 percent and the rate of deep poverty among children by roughly 50 percent. And it could eliminate extreme child poverty. Cost estimates will be presented.
Hirokazu Yoshikawa
Partner, US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty
Courtney Sale Ross university professor, New York University
Webinar Materials