Climbing out of poverty, falling back in - Measuring the persistence of poverty over multiple spells

This paper investigates the persistence of poverty over individuals' life-t imes using a hazard rate approach that accounts for multiple spells of pove rty and incorporates spell duration, individual and household characteristi cs, and unobserved heterogeneity: The findings highlight the importance of considering multiple spells in an analysis of poverty persistence, with hal f of those who end poverty spells returning to poverty within four years, A ccounting for multiple spells shows that approximately 50 percent of blacks and 30 percent of whites falling into poverty in some year will have famil y income below the poverty line in Jive or more of the next ten years.