Three Studies on the Determinants and Consequences of Poverty

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Campbell, Colin
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology

Abstract

In this dissertation, I consider the effect of dropping out of high school on poverty and welfare receipt, the effect of sibship size on cognitive ability and early educational achievement in low-income households, and the determinants of support for government involvement in lessening poverty. Using a variety of multivariate methods and data sources, (1) I find that dropping out of high school has an independent effect on poverty and welfare receipt net of unobserved background characteristics, but the consequences of dropping out and the role of unobserved background characteristics have changed over time; (2) I find a clear association between sibship size and cognitive development and early educational achievement in both low-income and affluent households, and I find that sibship size is more strongly related with cognitive development and educational achievement in affluent households; however, I find little support for a causal interpretation of these findings; and (3) I find that the social and economic contexts when people come of age do not color beliefs about the government's role in lessening poverty, but beliefs do shift in response to economic hardship.

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