Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach joined Colgate University’s economics department for her lecture “Reducing Poverty and Improving Opportunity” on March 6. Schanzenbach is currently a professor at Northwestern University, studying government policies aimed to improve the lives of children in poverty, and previously served as the Director of the Hamilton Project at Brookings. This lecture was organized as a response to Colgate’s Community Reads selection, “Poverty, by America,” written by Matthew Desmond.
According to Schanzenbach, poverty rates among children are consistently higher than overall poverty rates, with food insecurity being a key metric of poverty. Food is often one of the first areas families cut back on when under economic strain, making food insecurity a more accurate measure of how many families truly experience economic hardship. Low-income populations are particularly impacted by recessions and experience deeper job losses and slower recovery than higher-income groups.
Schanzenbach’s research showed how government spending on poverty alleviation has been shown to reduce poverty and improve long-term opportunities, particularly for children. Her research showed that children who receive adequate nutrition, especially during early life, have improved health outcomes and are more likely to succeed in school and become self-sufficient adults. The most significant benefits occur when children receive aid before birth.
Schanzenbach aimed for attendants to walk away understanding that many people live in poverty and lack adequate incomes for basic needs, which can be alleviated through the social safety net. In fact, there is growing and compelling evidence that reducing poverty among children improves opportunity.
She also noted that Desmond’s “Poverty, by America” made some overreaching claims that she noted were incorrect. Economics Department Chair and Professor Nicole Simpson agreed, explaining what she sees as successful attempts to reduce poverty in recent years.
“Desmond makes a few broad statements that are not accurate. First, he says that we haven’t made progress in fighting poverty over the last several decades in the U.S., but we have,” Simpson explained.
Schanzenbach shared graphs of declining poverty rates overall and for children during her visit. In comparison to 1967, the overall poverty rate has been cut nearly in half, transitioning from 26% to 14.4% in 2017. According to Schanzenbach’s graphs, poverty rates have continued to fall after 2017 as well. Simpson commented on these numbers as well.
“Also, [Desmond] claims that we haven’t done much to fight poverty, but we have. The U.S. has a broad range of anti-poverty programs that go a long way in reducing poverty rates in the U.S.,” Simpson said. “For example, social security has had a large impact on lowering poverty rates among the elderly. SNAP, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit have been key parts of the safety net for low-income families since the mid 1990s.”
Senior Graham Trask acknowledged the discrepancy between Desmond’s argument and the statistics Schanzenbach presented.
“Contrary to what I had read in Matthew Desmond’s book, ‘Poverty, by America,’ she argued that poverty in the U.S. has actually decreased when accounting for the role of government safety net programs,” Trask said.
The social safety net, composed of programs designed to help those facing economic hardship, plays a significant role in alleviating poverty. Programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Social Security help reduce material hardship. However, safety net programs are often conditioned on work, which means that job losses can result in a loss of assistance, creating hardships during economic downturns.
Assistant Professor of Economics Mike Levere is currently teaching ECON 344: Public Economics, a class closely related to Schanzenbach’s lecture. Schanzenbach joined two sections of Levere’s class during her visit, along with Simpson’s ECON 230: The Economics of Poverty in the United States.
“Public economics studies the way that the government is involved in the economy. Our class yesterday covered the government’s anti-poverty efforts, including various social safety net programs, which was the main topic of her talk,” Levere explained. “Professor Schanzenbach was kind enough to come to our class and shared about her research on the SNAP program, a key part of the safety net that offers food stamps to low-income families. She is arguably the country’s leading SNAP expert.”
Levere discussed what he hoped his students took away from the lecture.
“I hope students come away realizing that poverty is a policy choice. Professor Schanzenbach showed the way government efforts have led to declining poverty since the 1970’s. The efforts during the COVID-19 recession offer a clear case study of this — when we provided generous benefits through things like an expanded Child Tax Credit, stimulus changes and strong unemployment insurance, poverty fell dramatically. When that went away, poverty went back up,” Levere shared.
Trask, who is in Levere’s Public Economics class, found Schanzenbach’s visit rewarding.
“I found Dr. Schanzenbach’s lecture really eye-opening, particularly in relation to her research on long run trends in poverty within the United States,” Trask shared. “I learned that SNAP is an effective measure of providing households with resources to purchase food and beverages — resources that they might otherwise be unable to afford — thereby decreasing hunger and poverty in the U.S.”
Trask also discussed Schanzenbach’s extensive research on how the government can improve the effectiveness of SNAP. The class discussed restricting what people can buy using SNAP to improve dietary quality, reforming work requirements to promote employment, or structuring SNAP benefits differently to smooth participants’ consumption.
Sophomore Matheson Williams, another student in Levere’s class, found the SNAP lecture insightful.
“Listening to an expert about modern and relevant topics was really insightful. I found the SNAP discussion to be especially interesting given the recent proposed shifts in government funding,” Williams said. “The impact that our government is making has severe repercussions when looking at social welfare programs and poverty nationwide.”
