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Martin Dribe. Photo.

Martin Dribe

Professor, Centre director, Centre for Economic Demography

Martin Dribe. Photo.

The price of poverty: The association between childhood poverty and adult income and education in Sweden, 1947–2015

Author

  • Gabriel Brea-Martinez
  • Martin Dribe
  • Maria Stanfors

Summary, in English

Childhood poverty increases the likelihood of being poor as an adult. We know relatively little about this persistence of poverty in the past and whether it changed as modern welfare societies developed. This study both analyses determinants of childhood poverty and assesses the association between childhood poverty and economic outcomes in adulthood for men and women who grew up in southern Sweden, and who were followed to adulthood regardless of where in Sweden they resided. Poverty is measured in relative terms. Being raised by a single mother, foreign origin, and being raised in a context where the household head was not employed were important risk factors for childhood poverty. Growing up in relative poverty was in turn associated with low income and education in adulthood. Both the persistence and intensity of childhood poverty mattered, and so did the age during which poverty was experienced. Patterns were similar for men and women, and there was no consistent change over time as the Swedish welfare state expanded.

Department/s

  • Department of Economic History
  • Centre for Economic Demography
  • LU Profile Area: Proactive Ageing

Publishing year

2023-10-05

Language

English

Pages

1281-1304

Publication/Series

Economic History Review

Volume

76

Issue

4

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Topic

  • Economic History

Keywords

  • childhood
  • intergenerational transmission
  • poverty
  • Sweden
  • twenti-eth century

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1468-0289