POVERTY DYNAMICS IN 8 COUNTRIES

Despite very different macroeconomic conditions, demographic structure s and degrees of income inequality, favorable income changes among low -income families with children were widespread and strikingly similar across the eight countries in our study. In most European countries, t he combination of modest inequality and extensive mobility among the p oor enabled virtually all families to avoid relative income deprivatio n at least occasionally. However, even substantial mobility among the poor in the Unites States could not elevate the living standards of on e in seven white and two in five black families to a level that was ha lf that enjoyed by a typical American family.