Childhood Poverty Is Found to Portend High Adult Costs

By Erik Eckholm (New York Times)

Published: January 25, 2007

This article is about a report presented by a team of economists and scholars, who are calling for more spending in poverty reduction and education, in order to make US children more competitive and attractive workers in the age of globalization. The report was presented on Wednesday to the House Ways and Means Committee.

According to the report: “Children who grow up poor cost the economy $500 billion a year because they are less productive, earn less money, commit more crimes and have more health-related expenses.”

“The high cost of childhood poverty to the U.S. suggests that investing significant resources in poverty reduction might be more cost effective than we thought,” said Harry J. Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University and the Urban Institute and one of the four authors of the report.”

This article is an important issue for globalization. In the US, the quality and distribution of education is beginning to fall behind the country’s rising economic competitors. Countries like India have refocused their budgets to make education more affordable and accessible, the result has been a more educated and attractive workforce, which has been a major draw for outsourcing firms. If the US doesn’t do something, the country will continue to lose jobs overseas and lose some of its share of the world’s economy.