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Why are child poverty rates so persistently high in Spain?

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos Gradín

    (Universidade de Vigo)

  • Olga Cantó

    (Instituto de Estudios Fiscales and Universidade de Vigo)

Abstract

Poverty rates among households with children in Spain have been shown to be persistently higher than those among households without children. These higher rates prevail for chronic, transitory and, most remarkably, for recurrent poverty. In order to study the dynamics of poverty transitions in Spain we estimate a dynamic random effects probit model that controls for unobserved heterogeneity and initial conditions using the European Community Household Panel. Our results show differential effects of several individual and household characteristics on the probability of being poor for households with and without children. Of special interest is how labour instability factors can help to explain the outstandingly higher recurrence in poverty among households with children in Spain, compared with other countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos Gradín & Olga Cantó, 2009. "Why are child poverty rates so persistently high in Spain?," Working Papers 123, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    • Handle: RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2009-123
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    children; poverty dynamics; random-effects; Spain.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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