The Role of Government Transfers in the Child Poverty Gap by Race and Ethnicity: A Focus on Black, Latino, and White Children
This brief provides insights into the impact of government assistance on shaping racial and ethnic inequities in child poverty. It provides an update to a prior analysis of the Black-White child poverty gap and introduces new findings on the Latino-White child poverty gap.
The Promise of Universal Child Benefits: the Foundational Policy for Economic and Social Development
This brief, released by the International Labour Organization (ILO) with UNICEF and the Learning for Well-Being Institute and featuring two CPSP co-authors, provides a resource for countries looking to enhance an existing child benefit policy or establish a universal child benefit.
Starting Sooner: Should Cash Payments Begin During Pregnancy?
This policy brief reviews the research on the potential impact of cash payments to families during pregnancy on birth and longer term outcomes.
Counting Children Fully in Economic Impact Payments and Other Cash Assistance Policies Matters for Poverty Reduction
This brief examines the impact of counting children as full recipients of Economic Impact Payments and other direct cash payments. Counting children fully in cash payments has a significant impact on poverty reduction.
Children Left Behind by the Child Tax Credit in 2022
The 2021 Child Tax Credit expansion included the one-third of children formerly left out of the full credit and resulted in historic poverty reduction. The expansion’s expiration excluded these children once again and child poverty rates rose sharply in response. This analysis updates the share and profile of children left out of the full Child Tax Credit in 2022, representing 26% of all children.
What Would 2022 Child Poverty Rates Have Looked Like if an Expanded Child Tax Credit Had Still Been in Place?
The sharp spike in child poverty from 2021 to 2022 represents the largest year-over-year increase on record and is largely the result of the expiration of the 2021 temporary Child Tax Credit expansion. This policy brief examines what 2022 child poverty could have been if an expanded Child Tax Credit had been continued.
The Costs of Cutting Cash Assistance to Children and Families: Changing TANF work requirements could cost society up to $30 billion per year
This benefit-cost analysis examines the potential effects of the Limit, Save, Grow Act (H.R. 2811 in the 118th Congress) that would change state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) work participation requirements in ways that could result in states restricting or eliminating TANF cash assistance for families with children. Every $1 in TANF cash assistance payments lost to families per year would cost society $8 per year, with the worst case scenario costing society close to $30 billion per year.
The Case for a Federal Birth Grant: A Plan to Reduce Poverty for Newborns and their Families
This research brief examines the potential anti-poverty impact of a federal birth grant, including in combination with a child allowance. It shows that a birth grant can significantly reduce poverty rates among infants and their families during the first year post birth.
The 2021 Child Tax Credit Expansion: Child Poverty Reduction and the Children Formerly Left Behind
This policy brief shows how well the expanded Child Tax Credit did in reducing child poverty relative to prior law. It simulates the pre-ARP version of the Child Tax Credit in 2021 data and compares the actual child poverty reduction in 2021 to what it would have been absent the expansion.
The EITC and the CTC Give Temporary Income Boost to Low-Income Families
Due to refundable tax credits, monthly poverty fell from 14.4% in February 2022 to 10.8% in March 2022, and for children from 16.7% to 9.9%.
Monthly Cash Payments Reduce Spells of Poverty Across the Year
Taking the expanded Child Tax Credit under the American Rescue Plan and the existing Earned Income Tax Credit as examples, this brief shows how monthly benefit delivery has the power to smooth within-year volatility in incomes and reduce child poverty year-round.
Monthly Poverty Remains Elevated in February
Monthly poverty remained elevated in February 2022, with a 14.4 percent poverty rate for the total US population and 16.7 percent for children.
The Role of Government Transfers in the Black-White Child Poverty Gap
This policy brief examines the role of government transfers and tax credits in closing the Black-White child poverty gap. Government transfers and tax credits are effective in raising incomes for Black children in poverty, yet are entirely ineffective in closing the Black-White child poverty gap.
Absence of Monthly Child Tax Credit Leads to 3.7 Million More Children in Poverty in January 2022
Without the Child Tax Credit, the monthly child poverty rate increased from 12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17 percent in January 2022, the highest rate since the end of 2020.
Sixth Child Tax Credit Payment Kept 3.7 Million Children Out of Poverty in December
The sixth Child Tax Credit payment kept 3.7 million children from poverty in December. In absence of a January payment though, the monthly child poverty rate could potentially increase from 12.1 percent to at least 17.1 percent in early 2022—the highest monthly child poverty rate since December 2020.
Monthly Poverty Rates among Children after Expansion of the Child Tax Credit
This policy brief discusses the estimated impact of the expanded Child Tax Credit on the monthly poverty rate for July 2021 in the United States. Monthly poverty fell from 15.8 percent in June to 11.9 percent in July, representing a decline of 3 million children living in poverty. This drop in child poverty is primarily due to the first payment of the expanded Child Tax Credit.
The Costs and Benefits of Expanding the Empire State Child Tax Credit in New York City
Research finds that cash and near-cash benefits increase children’s health, education, and future earnings while also decreasing costs with respect to health, child protection, and criminal justice. We find that expanding the Empire State Tax Credit to $1,000 per child for all children in New York City under 17, with the exception of high-income families, would cost about $1.1 billion and would generate about $9.8 billion in benefits to society.
The Costs and Benefits of Expanding the Empire State Child Tax Credit
Research finds that cash and near-cash benefits increase children’s health, education, and future earnings while also decreasing costs with respect to health, child protection, and criminal justice. We find that expanding the Empire State Tax Credit to $1,000 per child for all children in New York State under 17, with the exception of high-income families, would cost about $2.7 billion and would generate about $26.2 billion in benefits to society.
Parental Unemployment Reaches Historic Highs During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Urgent policy action is needed to prevent long-lasting detrimental effects of the spike in the share of children with at least one unemployed parent during the pandemic. Black and Latino children have been particularly affected and mothers are more affected than fathers.
Housing Vouchers and Tax Credits: Pairing the Proposal to Transform Section 8 with Expansions to the EITC and the Child Tax Credit Could Cut the National Poverty Rate by Half
Vice President Biden’s campaign put forward a plan to address the housing affordability crisis through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. Such an expansion could lead to substantial reductions in the national poverty rate, which we quantify for the first time in this brief.