African-American Women and Poverty: Can Education Alone Change the Status Quo? (Children of Poverty)

In the United States, public policies designed to reduce poverty are overwhelmingly influenced by human capital theory, since education is viewed as the powerful mechanism by which productivity will increase, incomes will be raised, and economic opportunity will be provided. Although African-American women followed the prescription set forth by human capital theory and increased their educational attainment by over 2 years from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, their incidence of poverty remained fairly stable. First published in 1998, this study examines why educational investments by that population most susceptible to being poor, African- American females, have not reduced poverty as expected. Health care policy and proposals for national health care reform have become some of the most contentious political issues of the decade. Garland Publishing announces a new series addressing the most significant issues in the area of health care policy and the business of health care in the United States. books in this multidisciplinary series will include studies of health care practice, the health care business, the implications of multicultural perspectives on health care for public policy, the impact of insurance on health care, and debates over national health care policy, including health care reform. This collection of timely works will offer significant scholarly perspectives on one of the most important issues in public policy.An unfulfilled promiseThis book examines why educational investments by African American women, the group in American society that is most susceptible to being poor, have not reduced poverty as expected. In the United States, public policies rely heavily on education as the powerful mechanism by which economic opportunity will be provided. However, although African American women followed the prescription set forth by human capital theory and increased their educational attainment from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, the promised payoffs to additional schooling did not materialize.An important indirect effectThe analysis in this study reveals that the ability of human capital investment to alleviate poverty for African American women differs depending on whether one estimates private or social returns. In the individual-level analysis, education is a strong negative determinant of poverty and is equally sensitive for each time periodstudied. Education is also a critical mediating variable between family of origin, teen birth, and poverty, suggesting its important indirect effect on women's later economic prosperity.Not a way out of povertyResults from the time-series analysis, however, indicate that increased schooling did not exert any negative pressure on the aggregate poverty rate. Further, African American women's returns to educational investment are consistently lower than that of white women, irrespective of the overall level of education and resources. In sum, the findings show that education is only one of many determinants of poverty. African American Women and Poverty examines why educational investments by African American women, the group in American society that is most susceptible to being poor, have not reduced poverty as expected. The analysis in this study reveals that the ability of human capital investment to alleviate poverty for African American women differs depending on whether one estimates private or social returns. Tables. Charts. Appendices. Bibliography. Index.