Fighting Childhood Poverty: How a Universal Child Allowance Would Impact the U.S. Population

Modern developed economies have a material abundance beyond the imagination of people living two centuries ago, yet for many the guaranteed ability to access that material abundance is more tenuous than ever. In the United States, a job loss or an illness can strip the family of all assets faster than a drought could destroy the livelihood of a nineteenth-century farmer. As a reaction to this, many young adults are choosing to delay or forego having children. The largest age demographic in the United States who live in poverty are children. Social Security is politically popular and has been successful at dramatically lowering poverty amongst the elderly. A similar policy could be equally successful for children. This article uses Consumer Expenditure Survey data to explore how a universal child allowance could decrease the number of children living in poverty and help all U.S. families with children.