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Philosophical Reflections on Child Poverty and Education

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• Published: 12 January 2023
• Volume 42 , pages 49–63, ( 2023 )

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• Lorella Terzi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2258-6888 1 ,
• Elaine Unterhalter 2 &
• Judith Suissa 2  

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The harmful effects of Covid 19 on children living in poverty have refocused attention on the complex nature of child poverty and the vexed question of its relationship to education. The paper examines a tension at the heart of much discussion of child poverty and education. On the one hand, education is often regarded as essential for children’s flourishing and a means by which children can “escape” poverty; yet on the other hand, education systems, institutions, and practices, often reflect and entrench the disadvantages associated with poverty. Narratives concerning education as an escape from poverty tend not to deal in any depth with the injustices associated with poverty, stressing instead the transformative potential of education. By contrast, largely sociological analyses of the ways in which schooling reproduces inequalities tend to stop short of developing a normative account of how education can contribute to transforming the structural injustices related to poverty and its effects on children’s lives. In working to move beyond this analytic impasse, the paper shows how the cluster of concepts, which Robeyns (2018) locates as central to the capability approach, give insights which help to address these two different lacunae. The notion of conversion factors highlights the significance of taking account of existing relationships in education, while the distinction between capabilities and functionings helps guide practices regarding the education of children living in poverty. Drawing on literature on the heightened inequalities associated with poor children’s experience of lack of schooling during the COVID pandemic, the paper sketches some of the ways in which sociological analysis and normative evaluation can be linked in taking forward an “ethically engaged political philosophy” (Wolff, 2018) to discuss child poverty and education in real schools.

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Introduction

While exacerbating many of the harmful effects of poverty on children’s lives, the Covid years have brought into sharp relief the complexities of relationships of poverty and education and the ethical issues they raise. Two events exemplify this.

In January 2021, with UK schools closed due to the pandemic, children were not able to receive free meals at school, an essential support to thousands of families living in poverty. The government contracted a private company to distribute food to families receiving benefits. The food parcels were, however, of low nutritional quality and not at all plentiful. Mothers posted pictures on the internet recording the extremely meagre weekly food parcels they received in lieu of free school meals. For children living in poverty in England, the fears and disruptions of school closures associated with COVID were amplified by hunger, and carelessness of those in positions of authority distributing food. They were given a minimal handout, but indignity and exclusion were underlined.

In January 2022 Xolani Mtshali, a South African student, waiting to receive his final school leaving results, noted how impossible it had been for him to access the material distributed on TV and radio by the government when schools were shut: “ Even though I know there were TV and radio programmes for extra lessons, we do not have a TV at my house and on the radio they concentrated a lot on physics (which I did not study) and because I stay in a rural area people who would be able to help me with certain subjects stay very far from me, so it was difficult” ( Equal Education 2022 ). As the pandemic claimed millions of lives across the world it raised questions about what forms of social protection societies could offer those who were subjected to intense overt and covert discrimination. As many have noted, it also amplified the inequalities in societies (UNDP 2022 ; UNESCO 2022 ).

These two instances of the effects of Covid highlight many facets of the relationship of poverty and education indicating how the lack of resources in the households and communities of poor children, is compounded by cumulative effects of inadequate policy and practice, and experiences of social division. These incidents during the COVID pandemic prompt the need for philosophical reflection on the nature of the problem and how to address it.

Many studies of the effects of COVID, together with much of the academic work on children, education, and poverty, (e.g., Holt and Murray 2022 ; Hevia et al. 2022 ; Brehm et al. 2021 ), draw attention to the layers of these manifestly unjust conditions but they do not address the normative questions they raise for education. Our discussion examines this tension at the heart of much work on child poverty and education. We note how, on the one hand, education is often regarded as essential for children’s flourishing and as a means by which children can “escape” poverty. Education is thus a locus of values but the facts that shape those values are often not fully considered. Yet on the other hand, many accounts document how education systems, institutions, and practices, often reflect and entrench the disadvantages associated with poverty. In these largely sociological analyses drawing on statistical and empirical facts documenting the ways in which schooling reproduces inequalities, a number of which were assembled during COVID to record the effects of the pandemic on children’s lives (e.g., UNESCO 2021 ), there is a tendency for the discussion to stop short of developing a normative account of how education can contribute to transforming the structural injustices related to poverty and its effects on children’s lives. A range of facts is analysed, but the values to be addressed are often assumed more than directly articulated. In this paper we discuss problems with both these narratives. In attempting to overcome the limitations of both positions we adopt an approach of “ethically engaged political philosophy” (Wolff 2018 ) and seek to articulate the values and the factors that may advance the debate and inform practice. Our analysis, including a brief critical consideration of the values advanced by ideal approaches to justice, suggests that an interdisciplinary approach to these questions, informed by a normative ethical framework, can broaden out our understanding of the relationship between child poverty and education in a way that transcends the focus on the causal mechanisms by which poverty serves as a barrier to educational achievement and educational opportunities offer an “escape” from poverty.

The first part of the paper counterposes the two narratives about children’s education and poverty which arise from different perspectives and disciplinary foci, such as sociology of education and education and international development. The second part of the paper, in working to move beyond this analytic impasse associated with the two perspectives talking past each other draws on a cluster of concepts, which Robeyns ( 2018 ) locates as central to the capability approach. We use these to develop insights which help to address these two different lacunae and build some interdisciplinary framing that can help to link empirical analysis and normative evaluation in an attempt to better understand the complex interplay of child poverty and education.

Two Narratives of Poverty and Education

The two narratives we have identified in the literature on poverty, education, and childhood, which came to be deployed in the policy discussions at the time of COVID, are firstly a narrative of children shut out of quality education by poverty, and secondly a narrative of children shut up in poor schools because of poverty. We lay out some key features of each narrative and highlight work which exemplifies this. Different disciplinary concerns shape these two narratives. While both narratives are infused with values of justice and equality, albeit considered and articulated in different domains, the different ways in which these values are positioned has implications, constraining a wider analytic engagement.

In the first narrative, poor children are locked out of the opportunities for knowledge, skills, understanding, attaining learning outcomes and qualifications, autonomy, wellbeing, and relationships of flourishing associated with formal education. In these accounts, the problem of poverty is presented as external to the school, and is associated, for example, with poor housing, run down or violent neighbourhoods, families who do not value education, or do not earn enough to pay for good education, harsh government policies or inadequate delivery of education reform, because of a poverty of ambition by officials (e.g. Barrett et al. 2019 ; Pritchett 2019 ; Azevedo 2020 ;). During the COVID pandemic this narrative was often deployed showing how poor girls had less access to mobile technologies than boys and missed much more schooling (UNESCO 2022 ).

In this narrative, schools can mitigate the effects of poverty, if they can improve their ‘quality’. Policy work drawing on this narrative emphasises that the learning outcomes of poor children are behind where they should be, giving rise to significant inequalities of educational attainment. This emphasis on the learning gap has had much attention as an outcome of schools being shut during the COVID period in the UK and internationally (Education in England 2020 ; World Bank 2021 ; House of Commons Library 2021 ). In these versions of this argument there is no normative question to be addressed regarding the nature of quality education, rather, the focus is mainly on a distributional issue, regarding how to improve school organisation, learning outcomes and close the attainment gap (e.g., Weidmann et al. 2021 ; Akmal and Pritchett 2021 ). Education is equated with learning outcomes in a narrow range of subjects, with little attention to a wider range of relationships, processes, experiences, and knowledge forms. Raffo et al ( 2009 ) nuance this narrative and identify the complexity of the relationships between poverty and learning outcomes, distinguishing between accounts which document forms of poverty at the micro, meso, and macro levels. They note that perspectives on education can be divided between those which are oriented to a more functionalist view of education serving society, and those which focus on how education might develop critical perspectives (Raffo et al 2009 , 11–13). A mainstream version of the narrative that poverty is a problem of children out of school or learning little of value in school, we suggest, is more aligned with a functionalist view of education.

This articulates a clear perspective on the ways in which poverty or dysfunctional elements are to be kept outside the focus of education planning, which itself does not engage with the purpose of education beyond ‘learning’. This learning is generally narrowed down to a very limited number of outcomes in literacy and numeracy (Smith and Benavot 2021 ; D’Agnese 2017 ), which further contributes to the existing inequalities.

Thus, in the narrative that poverty is the problem, and education is a remedy or a way out, there is little space, firstly for understanding the perspectives and nuanced experiences of poor children, and what they and their parents say about school, and secondly for understanding the interconnection between macro, meso, and micro level political, economic, and socio-cultural relationships to produce and maintain poverty.

In contrast to the above narrative, attention to empirical research into the experience of children in poverty within educational contexts, can contribute to developing more nuanced and appropriate responses at school, community, national, and the international levels to make education a means for addressing poverty, and redistributing power. For example, Moletsane and Mitchell ( 2018 ) report on the use of participatory visual methodologies developed in partnership with poor girls in South Africa and Canada. These have demonstrated potential to contribute to ‘intensifying effort in relation to addressing the lived realities of girls who are marginalized and who suffer from persistent insecurity, injustice and abuse of power at the local level in otherwise democratic states’ (Moletsane and Mitchell 2018 : 437). This analysis does not bracket poverty ‘outside’ educational experiences but looks at how a range of actors – teachers, learners, social activists—can reflexively work together to take account of its many effects and processes for change. The significance of teachers, and their positioning in this work, is noted in the work Moletsane and Mitchell have done over many years (Mitchell et al. 2020 ; Moletsane 2022 ). Recent studies of the response to COVID 19 school closures and other disasters revealed how schools in areas of socio-economic deprivation worked to offer material and practical support to children and their families in ways that went far beyond the simple requirement to ensure that poor children are able to access the formal elements of schooling (Moss et al 2020 ). The mobilization of school staff in deprived areas in the UK to organize food banks and supplies of basic IT equipment for families experiencing hardship during the pandemic highlighted the ways in which there were important links between education, mental health and poverty in which teachers, parents and learners’ experiences were implicated (Kim and Asbury 2020 ; Holt and Murray 2021 ; Martin et al 2022 ). Pre-pandemic research into the shame experienced by poor children (Chase and Bantebya-Kyomuhendo 2015 ) both illuminates the emotional cost of poverty and draws attention, once again, to the need to articulate a normative framework to address the complex moral demands posed by the existence of child poverty in an educational context.

If, as in the first narrative, poverty is bracketed analytically outside the school, and education is seen as a form of remedy for poverty, the analytic focus becomes how schools can compensate, rather than understanding the process of the construction of the injustices of poverty and working to enact values of justice at all levels of the educational experience.

The second narrative is associated with a wide range of work in the sociology of education (e.g., Apple 2018 ; Allais et al. 2019 ; Ball 2016 ). Here the analysis made is that schools reproduce poverty because of the policy frameworks and injustices of distribution inside and outside schools, the ways they interconnect, and sporadic, sometimes not well thought out ways of addressing this. The problem of poverty is inside and outside the school with significant effect on children, teachers, and families. Here there are normative questions about what constitutes a good education, and what forms of justice and obligations are required to secure it, but many of the studies do not engage with this fundamental dimension. For example, two of the key works that have had major influence on this area of scholarship—Bowles and Gintis’ study of how schools reproduce the class relationships and labour market dynamics associated with capitalism, and Pierre Bourdieu’s work on cultural capital, schooling and social reproduction – do not engage with questions of what some of the positive features of education might be (Bowles and Gintis 1976 , 2002 ; Bourdieu and Passeron 1990 ).

Research into the “pedagogy of poverty” (Haberman 2010 ), for example, has shown how access to schooling and to material resources supporting poor children’s education is not sufficient to address the educational disadvantages they face. Such research has highlighted the ways in which children living in poverty are subject to low expectations and particular styles of pedagogical interaction on the part of educators. Hempel-Jorgensen ( 2019 ) sums up this research:

The ‘pedagogy of poverty’ experienced by learners in poverty is characterised by a focus on discipline, low intellectual engagement and a focus on attainment in tests. A study conducted in England shows how this can differ significantly in schools in which most children are not living in poverty…. This evidence suggests that English schools with low-income intakes are far more vulnerable to the pressures of high-stakes testing than schools with higher-income intakes, as children living in poverty are known to have significantly lower prior attainment. (Hempel-Jorgensen 2019 np)

Furthermore, a number of studies highlight how teachers’ misperception of poverty as caused by parents’ actions leads to negative and stereotypical behaviours which negatively affect their relationships with children (Schweiger and Graf 2015 ; Thompson et al. 2016 ; Unterhalter et al. 2012 ). As Treanor notes, children living in poverty express frustration at being shouted at in school, often for factors related to not having the correct equipment, which significantly affects children’s well-being, and results in progressing disengagement from learning (Treanor 2020 : 83).

Several studies enhance our understanding by looking not just at the effects of poverty on children’s academic achievement, life chances, and ability to engage with pedagogical content, but at the affective significance of living in poverty (e.g., Aber et al 2007 ). Vizard and Hills ( 2015 ), in a comprehensive review of the social policy actions of the Conservative government in the UK from 2015 to the eve of the pandemic in 2020, note the interplay of many processes resulting in conditions for child poverty and poor educational experiences and outcomes. These include erosion of the protective capacity of the welfare state, as resource, workforce and capacity pressures across public services result in a failure to meet needs, compromising quality, and eroding the resilience of public service to shocks. Thus, the widening of inequalities across multiple axes of disadvantage set conditions for increasing poverty, which were to be accentuated during the COVID. This study highlights how it is multiple relationships in and around school that shape poverty. However, it is also distinctive for identifying a number of normative positions on top of securing adequate funding for public services, which include strengthened social rights and accountability mechanisms, such as enhancing the eroded process of democratic accountability for schooling and developing multi-dimensional strategies for change. Vizard and Hill stress giving priority to the needs of the most disadvantaged and to comprehensive public action to reduce social inequalities, together with a new values-based approach to social policy: dignity and respect, recognition and valuation (Vizard 2021 ). This presents a wide range of areas for normative engagement in education, made more urgent by the COVID years.

Any articulation of a normative framework for addressing child poverty as an issue of justice is clearly enhanced by a more informed and in-depth understanding of the multiple disadvantages faced by children in poverty. However, the different ways in which values are articulated and understood has implications for shaping the ethical frameworks selected.

We have highlighted how two widely circulating narratives of children, education and poverty each tend to make the normative ethical framework to understand this process somewhat fuzzy. In the next section we highlight some elements from political theory associated with the dispersed meanings of normative concern we have charted.

Political Theory and Political Imaginaries

To summarise the above discussion, our exploration has indicated that the tension between addressing the background structural factors that create and sustain poverty and addressing the immediate educational needs of children living in poverty is a constant backdrop to the choices and judgements made by educators.

All these discussions, as Brando and Schweiger ( 2019 : 5) note, are philosophically relevant in light of the moral questions arising from conditions of disadvantage and inequality. Normatively, ideal theories of justice, such as the prominent 1971 Theory of Justice by John Rawls , provide principled positions that can guide both the analysis of what constitutes disadvantage and ways to conceptualise it, as well as principles that can guide a fair distribution of resources. Although offering also important insights for education, a thorough discussion of these is not feasible in this paper.

What can be noted, however, is that while ideal theories of justice can go some way towards offering a normative framework within which to make sense of and guide such choices and judgements, they are limited in a number of ways. Firstly, they often universalise culturally specific models of childhood, including assumptions about children’s agency and vulnerability. Within most work in liberal political theory, children are seen as young people whose capacity for moral agency in terms of self-determination, arguably an essential feature of adulthood, is not yet fully formed. They are therefore considered vulnerable and dependent, to various degrees, on the decisions and actions of adults, both within their families and other institutions, including the school. This, in turn, determines a duty of intervention to secure their material and emotional wellbeing and to defend and promote their fundamental interests, both as children and as the future adults they will become. Recent research on child poverty and education, however, questions normative positions about the moral status of children as vulnerable and dependent. Researchers have argued that such normative positions are situated in a Western and often highly abstract conception, related to the cultural and socio-economic realities of the Global North (Hanes 2019 ; Yasmin and Dadvand, 2019). Hanes ( 2019 ), for example, argues that in most of the Global South, children in poverty are considered autonomous and resilient agents. He also highlights how children whose life conditions and experiences do not conform to idealized conceptions of childhood suffer from marginalization and exclusion leading, in some cases, to forms of oppression, such as those seen, for example, in relation to First Nations child removal policies in Canada or the practices of transnational adoptions, whereby children from minority ethnic groups were removed from their families and respectively placed in institutions or adopted by white families (Hanes 2019 : 23, 30). Thus, although different models of childhood inform all theories dealing with children, perhaps the problematic feature of highly idealized views, abstracting from empirical and contextual factors, resides in how they lead to policies that, instead of protecting children, end up further disadvantaging them.

Indeed, the very question of why we should focus on child poverty—i.e., whether the moral significance of child poverty, in and of itself, is qualitatively distinct from the moral significance of poverty—already hints at these underlying ideas about the meaning and status of childhood. Thus, child poverty as a social phenomenon can be seen to involve intersecting normative and empirical dimensions, and educational questions lie at the nexus of these different dimensions.

Secondly, theories of justice often bracket out questions about the background political structures within which socio-economic inequality and poverty are inscribed, suggesting that issues of justice are best addressed within the given political sphere through measures of redistribution and institutional reform (see Sen 2006 ). While we do not deny the validity of this political point, we suggest that political structures and systems are also sustained partly through a political imaginary (Taylor 2004 ) which legitimates and normalises certain assumptions about our social and political life. For instance, Rawlsian theories of social justice, which have significantly informed the work of both political philosophers and educational theorists concerned with educational justice and equality, assume the existence of a degree of socio-economic inequality. Relatedly, the assumption, that poverty is an inevitable part of social, economic, and political arrangements, rather than the result of political choices, is a feature of much work within the first narrative sketched above. Education systems are one of the places in which this imaginary may well be reinforced, whether through teachers’ and administrators’ attitudinal and unconscious biases, the curriculum, pedagogy, or parental choices. This is not to deny, of course, that many individuals working within these systems recognize the needs and aspirations of children living in poverty.

We have drawn attention to some weaknesses of ideal theories of justice not to reject them, but to highlight the need for such critical reflection, and to illustrate how these theories interact in complex ways when they are brought to bear on questions of how to address child poverty within an educational context (Peters and Besley 2014 ). Educational spaces, our analysis has suggested, are spaces in which the complexity between these different models is often most clearly illustrated and where an ethical framework is required that holds together questions of structure, agency, facts, and values. Furthermore, as the World Inequality Report ( 2022 ) states in reflecting on some of the issues that emerged during the COVID years, ‘Inequality is always a political choice and learning from policies implemented in other countries or at other points of time is critical to design fairer development pathways.'

An Ethically Informed Perspective on Child Poverty and Education

As the discussion so far highlights, questions about the interplay of education and child poverty, brought into sharp relief by the Covid years, are best addressed with an ethically informed perspective, where the normative assumptions underlying empirical research and complex intersections of factors, including structural, cultural, and pedagogical, can be interrogated and overcome. This section shows how the cluster of concepts identified by Robeyns ( 2018 ) as central to the capability approach offers both a normative rationale for evaluating the educational disadvantage associated with poverty and insights to guide educational practice. These insights are particularly important now, in light of the widening educational inequalities resulting from the effects of the pandemic and the limited and often unsuccessful measures adopted by many countries to counteract them.

As a normative framework concerned with people’s freedom to achieve well-being, Footnote 1 the capability approach focuses on what people can do and be with the resources they have, and what kind of life they can truly lead (Robeyns 2017 : 24). At the core of the approach is a conception of well-being in terms of people’s real opportunities (capabilities) to choose among different states and activities (functionings), those that they value (Sen 4 , 1992 ). Being a pacifist, working as a gardener or participating in the life of the community are all examples of functionings that people may value, and capability corresponds to the set of real opportunities from which they can choose (Robeyns 2017 ).

Normatively, the approach is used to evaluate individual well-being, relative advantage or disadvantage, the just design of institutional arrangements, as well as social policies. The distinctive contribution of the approach to these evaluations resides in considering inequalities and disadvantage in the space of capability, that is, in terms of limitations (or deprivations) of real opportunities for well-being. Questions of justice and equality, thus, are best addressed in relation to the set of opportunities available to people to lead good lives.

In addition, Sen draws attention to the importance of considering people’s different ability to make use of the resources and opportunities they have, or their conversion factors, in the evaluative exercise of justice (Sen 1992 , 1999 ). These different factors refer to individuals’ internal features such as physical and psychological traits, as well as to factors emerging from society, for example social policies, cultural attitudes and norms, and the physical and built environment. A book, for instance, is a useful resource for reading, but not for a visually impaired person who will need a Braille version to achieve that functioning. What is important about conversion factors is that they provide information on where interventions need to be made in order to assess people’s relative disadvantage, and to expand their capabilities (Robeyns 2017 ). At the same time, considering these factors implies a multidisciplinary analysis, which draws on insights from different areas such as socio-economic analysis, development studies, and education, to name but a few (Robeyns 2017 : 36).

The above conceptual framework brings to the fore the moral dimension of poverty, and the multiplicity of factors that contribute to it, while providing an understanding that goes beyond commonly endorsed notions of poverty in terms of lack of income and external resources (Sen 1999 ). As Sen notes, different sources of deprivation may compound the disadvantage associated with poverty, thus making ‘real poverty … much more intense than we can deduce from income data’ (Sen 2009 : 256). And furthermore, the understanding and remedying of the persistence of poverty can ‘both be helped by explicit consideration of the relation between deprivation in different spaces, especially between incomes and the capability to lead secure and worthwhile lives’ (Sen 1992 : 9). Poverty is thus defined as a deprivation of capability Footnote 2 (Sen 2009 : 254) and identified at the level of deprivation of basic functionings, such as being well nourished, sheltered, healthy and, importantly, educated. The moral urgency of addressing poverty resides therefore in the level of deprivation and deep inequality entailed, as well as in its detrimental effects on overall well-being (Burchardt and Hicks 2018 ).

As stated earlier, we believe that the conceptual apparatus of the approach thus outlined offers an ethically engaged rationale that brings together normative evaluation and sociological and educational analysis in addressing the disadvantage emerging from the interplay of child poverty and education, highlighted during the COVID pandemic, while going beyond idealised approaches to justice too. The notion of conversion factors highlights the significance of taking account of existing relationships in education, while the distinction between capabilities and functionings helps guide practices regarding the education of poor children. These features, as we shall see, make the approach specifically apt to counteract the aftermath of the pandemic in ways that go beyond existing measures.

We begin by noting that an understanding of educational inequalities in terms of capability limitations has the normative advantage of highlighting and considering elements of inequality that are not readily evident if we focus only on material or educational resources, such as funding (Terzi 2021 ). If we consider, for example, the inequalities pertaining to the experiences of schooling faced by poor children, it seems evident that no amount of additional resources, in itself, can account for the limited pedagogical interactions related to the ‘pedagogy of poverty’ which, as we have seen, can characterise poor children’s schooling. This element is best accounted for by considering the socio-cultural factors that may affect a child’s use of their educational resources and adults’ response to this. Similarly, the attitudinal and unconscious biases of teachers towards poor children cannot be appropriately addressed without considering them among the socio-cultural factors that affect children’s learning. The capability approach does not discount the importance of resources in tackling these inequalities. Rather, it draws attention to how the usefulness of resources is conditioned by a complex interaction of factors and how such complexity needs to be explicitly accounted for both theoretically and practically, in relation to appropriate interventions. Thus, the approach endorses the use of resources for additional training for teachers or public campaigns to tackle discriminating attitudes, Footnote 3 for example. It is in this way that the process of socio-political and empirical analysis of conversion factors, which constrain or enlarge the capability space, becomes part of the normative discussion. These factors are not bracketed or treated as background, as the first educational narrative or indeed some ideal theories of justice seem to do but are part of the structuring of the normative framework. At the same time, the inclusion of these factors within a normative terrain facilitates incorporating the richness of sociological approaches to child poverty within an ethical framework allowing for acute analysis of crises like the COVID pandemic.

This is not only a theoretical evaluative approach, but one that can be translated into practice too. Many scholars working with the capability approach are able to use this core idea to incorporate multidimensionality into normative notions, and to develop more nuanced evaluative approaches to assessing social relationships in fields of education, health, and housing, to name a few (Chiappero-Martinetti, Osmani and Qizilbash  2020 ). As much of the extensive scholarship on the capability approach and education illuminates (e.g., Terzi 2005 ; Walker and Unterhalter 2007 ; Hart 2012 ; Walker 2019 ), the first narrative we outline, which suggests a solution of enhancing education quality inside schools, does not sufficiently attend to the complex intersecting ways in which inequality is formed both within and outside schools which the capability approach does by looking at a range of conversion factors.

The concept of conversion factors, which are environmental, political, economic, and social, highlights that the dynamics of the constraints on and expansion of capabilities entails normative choices and practical interventions. For example, a child needs literacy to enable her to access the curriculum taught at school and pass the school leaving examination. Being able to read is both a functioning and a capability. Considering environmental and political conversion factors brings to the fore how, even if a child can read, if no school has been built in her neighbourhood, or the school that is available to her is a long distance away and is staffed with teachers who lack enough experience to prepare her to enter the examination, do not talk her language, and assume children from her background are ‘backward’, the child will not be able to learn. Economic conversion factors draw attention to factors such as having to do long hours of work in the home, assisting with childcare, chores, and basic survival. Social conversion factors highlight attitudes which question, for example, a child’s school attendance because she has ‘too much book’ and does not marry young, thus incurring stigma and the risk of sexual assault. These factors need analysis both in how relationships inside and outside the school, and their interconnection , are understood. The two narratives we have sketched work in opposite directions and thus do not foster consideration of the processes associated with conversion factors working together. Drawing on the capability approach, in developing a framework to analyse literature on the gendered effects of school closures and return to school after COVID, a UNESCO overview report noted a wide range of conversion factors at play (UNESCO 2022 ).

Paying attention to conversion factors is particularly helpful in highlighting the increased inequalities of capabilities experienced as a result of Covid. As Anand et al. ( 2020a ) highlight, while the capability of learning has been significantly affected for all children around the world, existing inequalities in access to technology, parental education, and available support have exacerbated the disadvantage of children living in poverty. Specific capabilities, such as opportunities for speech and language development have been affected, particularly in the early years and more significantly for children with special educational needs and those from the most deprived neighbourhoods (Castro-Kemp and Mahmud 2021 ). As noted above, these inequalities are the result of complex interconnected environmental, social, political, and cultural factors, which are foregrounded and assessed by the capability approach. Relatedly, the opportunities to make up for the so called ‘learning loss’ caused by Covid differ too. And while some governments have attempted to address the learning loss by providing additional funding for specific programmes, for instance additional one to one and small group lessons or extended school time, such as the National Tutoring Programme deployed in England, the underlying structural social, economic, and educational inequalities have remained unchanged or have worsened, thus leading to the potential limited success of such initiatives. Consider, for example, the case of Janice, a year 7 student with insecure literacy skills attending a school in a poor neighbourhood. Janice had problems accessing remote learning and her learning has suffered as a result; moreover, she does not qualify for free access to school meals and often arrives at school hungry. Although teachers’ intervention is crucial in providing Janice with appropriate learning support, it is questionable whether such support will work, if the circumstantial factors of Janice’s situation are not addressed, and, importantly, the teaching and learning are based on limited notions of ‘catching up’. Through its attention to conversion factors, we suggest, an approach based on capability draws much needed attention to the role of schools in addressing disadvantage in interrelation with policies addressing circumstantial factors.

Finally, we posit, the conceptual apparatus of the capability approach, and its distinction between functionings and capability, offers insights that may prove helpful for addressing the education of children living in poverty. The importance accorded by the approach to well being and to the opportunities to lead good lives suggests, first and foremost, a shift from a functionalist view of education and its emphasis on a narrow set of learning outcomes, to a view of education aimed at the expansion of children’s capabilities. This more expansive view of education could, perhaps, include an expansion of the social imaginary associated with the dominant normative frameworks that we have outlined above. Thus, education is recognised as having a fertile role in enhancing children’s present and future well-being and providing real opportunities to develop functionings that will enable them to participate in the life of their communities and their broader society, and in work and leisure activities (Nussbaum 2011 ). At the same time, education itself can be one of the ways in which possibilities for social change can be imagined. A number of accounts using the capability approach to analyse educational relationships highlight this (e.g., De Jaeghere 2021 ; Walker et al. 2022 ; Unterhalter et al. 2022 ). While not discounting the importance of achieving functionings pertaining to, e.g., literacy and numeracy, the approach suggests instead a much broader conception of education, one more akin to promoting the full functionings pertaining to local, national, and global citizenship and the capacity to reflect on one’s values and goals and those of the surrounding society.

Moreover, the broader scope of education in relation to the expansion of capabilities is antithetic to any form of reductionist pedagogy, such as the pedagogy of poverty outlined earlier, but supports instead forms of pedagogical interaction and co-construction of the learning and teaching process (Brando 2020 ; Adamson 2021 ).

Lastly, the focus on capabilities, at least at the level of policy, helps unmask the inequalities of children living in poverty by considering the real opportunities they have, beyond the actual level of functionings or learning outcomes they may achieve.

It can be seen that the capability approach provides insights that allow us to address the lacunae identified in the two narratives of childhood, poverty and education we have sketched, and which continue to inform policy after the Covid years. In the first narrative the space of education is conceived as separate from the contexts of poverty, while in the second narrative the space of education is submerged by the structures associated with the perpetuation of poverty. The capability approach identifies the space of capabilities as different to these conceptions. Education has the potential to be a space of capabilities and opportunities that is not separated from social conditions, as the approach acknowledges the salience of conversion factors. But the capability space is also not simply a reflection of what may be the narrow set of opportunities offered by a society that is structured to reproduce inequalities. The capability space may be understood as a site of agency and opportunity contoured by the many historical and contemporary conditions that shape child poverty.

An ethical framework informed by the conceptual apparatus of the capability approach shows how values and ideals informed by the invaluable insights provided by educational, sociological and empirical studies can contribute to an understanding of the complexity of child poverty and the role that education plays in children’s life.

The Covid 19 pandemic has starkly refocused attention to the pressing and growing situation of children living in poverty worldwide. Capabilities threatened during the pandemic include opportunities for health, wellbeing, equity and inclusion. Work on the Covid pandemic and the capability approach has prompted a rich investigation of the ways in which institutions and innovations should be approached (Venkatapuram 2020 ; Anand et al. 2020 ; Ferrannini et al 2021 ; UNDP 2022 ). Our discussion has explored two dominant narratives about child poverty in its interplay with education and it has highlighted how each overlooks the complex ways in which normative values and contextual factors are related. The interdisciplinary conversations that enable theorists and practitioners to develop adequate responses to the pressing reality of child poverty, which has been starkly emphasised by the recent Covid 19 pandemic, we have argued, demand that we adopt an ethically informed, normative position on the desirability and the feasibility of intervening in our educational institutions, in ways that promote people’s real possibilities for leading a flourishing life. The modest, but also the possible radical potential of this perspective is captured in Jonathan Wolff’s suggestion that, at least in principle, ‘it is possible to improve individuals’ opportunities, and hence their capability set, by doing any of three interventions: improving a person’s internal traits such as strengths, skills etc., or improving their external resources including income, entitlement to services etc., and finally improving the social and cultural environment in which a person lives, including social policies, cultural attitudes and norms as well as their built environment’ (Wolff, 2007, Wolff, 2020). The normative framework we have articulated is perhaps a first step towards such an improvement on the existing situation.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Gottfried Schweiger and Frank Jeffery, and all the participants to the Workshop on Ethics, children, education and the COVID-19 pandemic held on 28 and 29 September 2022 (University of Salzburg) for their comments and suggestions. We are also grateful to the participants to the Seminar Series ‘ Child Poverty and Education: Philosophical Reflections ’ funded by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain and held between January and June 2021 (University of Roehampton and IOE UCL’s Faculty of Education). We thank two anonymous reviewers for insightful questions and support.

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Terzi, L., Unterhalter, E. & Suissa, J. Philosophical Reflections on Child Poverty and Education. Stud Philos Educ 42 , 49–63 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-022-09865-1

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Child Poverty and the Promise of Human Capacity: Childhood as a Foundation for Healthy Aging

Affiliation.

• 1 March of Dimes Center for Prematurity Research, the Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, and the Centers for Health Policy/Primary Care and Outcomes Research, Stanford University, Calif. Electronic address: [email protected].
• PMID: 27044700
• DOI: 10.1016/j.acap.2016.01.014

The effect of child poverty and related early life experiences on adult health outcomes and patterns of aging has become a central focus of child health research and advocacy. In this article a critical review of this proliferating literature and its relevance to child health programs and policy are presented. This literature review focused on evidence of the influence of child poverty on the major contributors to adult morbidity and mortality in the United States, the mechanisms by which these associations operate, and the implications for reforming child health programs and policies. Strong and varied evidence base documents the effect of child poverty and related early life experiences and exposures on the major threats to adult health and healthy aging. Studies using a variety of methodologies, including longitudinal and cross-sectional strategies, have reported significant findings regarding cardiovascular disorders, obesity and diabetes, certain cancers, mental health conditions, osteoporosis and fractures, and possibly dementia. These relationships can operate through alterations in fetal and infant development, stress reactivity and inflammation, the development of adverse health behaviors, the conveyance of child chronic illness into adulthood, and inadequate access to effective interventions in childhood. Although the reviewed studies document meaningful relationships between child poverty and adult outcomes, they also reveal that poverty, experiences, and behaviors in adulthood make important contributions to adult health and aging. There is strong evidence that poverty in childhood contributes significantly to adult health. Changes in the content, financing, and advocacy of current child health programs will be required to address the childhood influences on adult health and disease. Policy reforms that reduce child poverty and mitigate its developmental effects must be integrated into broader initiatives and advocacy that also attend to the health and well-being of adults.

Keywords: adult health; child health; child poverty; developmental origins of health and disease.

Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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Mental health effects of poverty, hunger, and homelessness on children and teens

Rising inflation and an uncertain economy are deeply affecting the lives of millions of Americans, particularly those living in low-income communities. It may seem impossible for a family of four to survive on just over $27,000 per year or a single person on just over $15,000, but that’s what millions of people do everyday in the United States. Approximately 37.9 million Americans, or just under 12%, now live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau .

Additional data from the Bureau show that children are more likely to experience poverty than people over the age of 18. Approximately one in six kids, 16% of all children, live in families with incomes below the official poverty line.

Those who are poor face challenges beyond a lack of resources. They also experience mental and physical issues at a much higher rate than those living above the poverty line. Read on for a summary of the myriad effects of poverty, homelessness, and hunger on children and youth. And for more information on APA’s work on issues surrounding socioeconomic status, please see the Office of Socioeconomic Status .

Who is most affected?

Poverty rates are disproportionately higher among most non-White populations. Compared to 8.2% of White Americans living in poverty, 26.8% of American Indian and Alaska Natives, 19.5% of Blacks, 17% of Hispanics and 8.1% of Asians are currently living in poverty.

Similarly, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous children are overrepresented among children living below the poverty line. More specifically, 35.5% of Black people living in poverty in the U.S. are below the age of 18. In addition, 40.7% of Hispanic people living below the poverty line in the U.S. are younger than age 18, and 29.1% of American Indian and Native American children lived in poverty in 2018. In contrast, approximately 21% of White people living in poverty in the U.S. are less than 18 years old.

Furthermore, families with a female head of household are more than twice as likely to live in poverty compared to families with a male head of household. Twenty-three percent of female-headed households live in poverty compared to 11.4% of male-headed households, according to the U.S. Census Bureau .

What are the effects of poverty on children and teens?

The impact of poverty on young children is significant and long lasting. Poverty is associated with substandard housing, hunger, homelessness, inadequate childcare, unsafe neighborhoods, and under-resourced schools. In addition, low-income children are at greater risk than higher-income children for a range of cognitive, emotional, and health-related problems, including detrimental effects on executive functioning, below average academic achievement, poor social emotional functioning, developmental delays, behavioral problems, asthma, inadequate nutrition, low birth weight, and higher rates of pneumonia.

Psychological research also shows that living in poverty is associated with differences in structural and functional brain development in children and adolescents in areas related to cognitive processes that are critical for learning, communication, and academic achievement, including social emotional processing, memory, language, and executive functioning.

Children and families living in poverty often attend under-resourced, overcrowded schools that lack educational opportunities, books, supplies, and appropriate technology due to local funding policies. In addition, families living below the poverty line often live in school districts without adequate equal learning experiences for both gifted and special needs students with learning differences and where high school dropout rates are high .

What are the effects of hunger on children and teens?

One in eight U.S. households with children, approximately 12.5%, could not buy enough food for their families in 2021 , considerably higher than the rate for households without children (9.4%). Black (19.8%) and Latinx (16.25%) households are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity, with food insecurity rates in 2021 triple and double the rate of White households (7%), respectively.

Research has found that hunger and undernutrition can have a host of negative effects on child development. For example, maternal undernutrition during pregnancy increases the risk of negative birth outcomes, including premature birth, low birth weight, smaller head size, and lower brain weight. In addition, children experiencing hunger are at least twice as likely to report being in fair or poor health and at least 1.4 times more likely to have asthma, compared to food-secure children.

The first three years of a child’s life are a period of rapid brain development. Too little energy, protein and nutrients during this sensitive period can lead to lasting deficits in cognitive, social and emotional development . School-age children who experience severe hunger are at increased risk for poor mental health and lower academic performance , and often lag behind their peers in social and emotional skills .

What are the effects of homelessness on children and teens?

Approximately 1.2 million public school students experienced homelessness during the 2019-2020 school year, according to the National Center for Homeless Education (PDF, 1.4MB) . The report also found that students of color experienced homelessness at higher proportions than expected based on the overall number of students. Hispanic and Latino students accounted for 28% of the overall student body but 38% of students experiencing homelessness, while Black students accounted for 15% of the overall student body but 27% of students experiencing homelessness. While White students accounted for 46% of all students enrolled in public schools, they represented 26% of students experiencing homelessness.

Homelessness can have a tremendous impact on children, from their education, physical and mental health, sense of safety, and overall development. Children experiencing homelessness frequently need to worry about where they will live, their pets, their belongings, and other family members. In addition, homeless children are less likely to have adequate access to medical and dental care, and may be affected by a variety of health challenges due to inadequate nutrition and access to food, education interruptions, trauma, and disruption in family dynamics.

In terms of academic achievement, students experiencing homelessness are more than twice as likely to be chronically absent than non-homeless students , with greater rates among Black and Native American or Alaska Native students. They are also more likely to change schools multiple times and to be suspended—especially students of color.

Further, research shows that students reporting homelessness have higher rates of victimization, including increased odds of being sexually and physically victimized, and bullied. Student homelessness correlates with other problems, even when controlling for other risks. They experienced significantly greater odds of suicidality, substance abuse, alcohol abuse, risky sexual behavior, and poor grades in school.

What can you do to help children and families experiencing poverty, hunger, and homelessness?

There are many ways that you can help fight poverty in America. You can:

• Volunteer your time with charities and organizations that provide assistance to low-income and homeless children and families.
• Donate money, food, and clothing to homeless shelters and other charities in your community.
• Donate school supplies and books to underresourced schools in your area.
• Improve access to physical, mental, and behavioral health care for low-income Americans by eliminating barriers such as limitations in health care coverage.
• Create a “safety net” for children and families that provides real protection against the harmful effects of economic insecurity.
• Increase the minimum wage, affordable housing and job skills training for low-income and homeless Americans.
• Intervene in early childhood to support the health and educational development of low-income children.
• Provide support for low-income and food insecure children such as Head Start , the National School Lunch Program , and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) .
• Increase resources for public education and access to higher education.
• Support research on poverty and its relationship to health, education, and well-being.
• Resolution on Poverty and SES
• Pathways for addressing deep poverty
• APA Deep Poverty Initiative

The antipoverty effects of the expanded Child Tax Credit across states: Where were the historic reductions felt?

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Sophie collyer , sophie collyer research director - center on poverty and social policy at columbia university bradley hardy , and bradley hardy nonresident senior fellow - economic studies christopher wimer christopher wimer co-director - center on poverty and social policy at columbia university.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Child poverty is a persistent national issue with lifetime and intergenerational consequences, but the distribution of its incidence and its impacts vary. One dimension that deserves attention is the variation in child poverty by state and the effectiveness of and potential for federal policy to confront the problem. In this essay, the authors investigate how the CTC affected child poverty in states by two characteristics: state-level cost of living (high-cost versus low-cost states) and state-level poverty (high versus low pre-tax/transfer poverty rates). They find that while the CTC caused substantial reductions in poverty in each kind of state, poverty reductions were the highest in low-cost, high poverty states, i.e., those states with relatively lower cost of living and with a higher poverty baseline.

INTRODUCTION

The 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) led to a historic reduction in poverty in the United States, particularly for children. Research showed that child poverty fell immediately and substantially. On an annual basis, according to the US Census Bureau, child poverty fell to its lowest level on record in 2021: 5.2% (Creamer et al. 2022). Moreover, the CTC benefit’s monthly delivery likely reduced volatility in income and poverty; research has shown that volatility compromises family and child well-being (Hamilton et al. 2022).

The dramatic reductions in poverty induced by the expanded CTC represent positive changes to economic well-being. There are potentially larger and longer-run benefits from an increase in economic security for families with low and moderate levels of income (Garfinkel et al. 2022). Income support enhances children’s lifetime social and economic outcomes by allowing families to meet basic needs and by increasing families’ income stability. Specifically, transfer programs that provide cash and near-cash supports have been shown to promote stronger educational, emotional, and health outcomes (Akee et al. 2018; Hardy 2022; Hardy, Hill, and Romich 2019; Hoynes, Schanzenbach, and Almond 2016; Rothstein and Wozny 2013).

The 2021 expanded CTC extended full refundability to families with little or no taxable income. Adults with young children between 0 and 5 years old received refundable credits of $3,600 per child, while those with children between 6 and 17 years old received credits of $3,000 per child. These benefit changes allowed for more of the lowest-income families—historically, those from non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native communities (Hardy 2022)—to benefit from the program (Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, 2021). The Census’s Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) showed that children from all racial and ethnic minority groups experienced relatively large reductions in poverty rates, but that SPM poverty rates fell most dramatically for Black and Hispanic children. Black child poverty rates fell by 17 percentage points between 2009 and 2021, while SPM child poverty rates fell from 30% to 8% among Hispanic children over the same period (Creamer et al. 2022).

But where in the country did the expanded CTC reduce child poverty the most? It is not obvious, for example, whether the expanded CTC would have reduced poverty more or less in higher-versus lower-poverty states, or whether the degree of poverty re-duction differed by the cost of living in states. Income distributions vary across states, as does the depth of poverty (i.e., how close or far families lie from the poverty line) within any given state. One well-established feature of federally administered transfer programs is that they tend to reallocate resources from higher-income states to lower-income states. And, importantly, states vary on cost of living, which is an often-underexplored driver of poverty.

These differences across states are especially relevant today, given well-documented housing supply gaps and staggeringly high housing costs facing many families. On the one hand, some of the nation’s poorest states, disproportionately situated in the South, are among the least expensive. On the other hand, these same less-expensive states tend to provide weaker safety net protections and make lower investments in education; strong safety nets and higher investments in education are two core features of successful economic mobility strategies (Ziliak 2019).

This essay investigates how the CTC affected child poverty across states. In our two primary analyses, we examine how the reduction in child poverty varies across two characteristics: state-level cost of living (high vs. low cost of living) and state-level poverty (high vs. low pretax/transfer poverty rates). We find that, although the CTC caused substantial reductions in poverty in each kind of state (i.e., high vs. low cost of living, high vs. low pretax/transfer poverty rates), poverty reductions were the highest in low-cost, high-poverty states, which are those states with a relatively lower cost of living and with a higher baseline poverty rate. It stands to reason that, when the expanded CTC sunset on Dec. 31, 2021, those states were also where child poverty increased the most.

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Library Dissertation Showcase

Child poverty and crime: gendered differences.

• Alexandra Lilley
• Year of Publication:
• BA (Hons) Geography

The number of children living in poverty in the UK has increased in recent years. Research has found that exposure to poverty can lead to an individual to commit crime. The importance of understanding the influence of child poverty on levels of crime is increasingly being researched. The research project investigates the relationship between childhood poverty and crime rates in Birmingham, Manchester and London. More specifically the research focuses on whether childhood poverty influences males or females to commit more crime. Previous research has looked at gendered differences in terms of crime, but not investigated the ways in which poverty can lead to gendered differences of crime committed. The methods undertaken in the project involved producing child poverty choropleth maps and anti-social behaviour hotspot maps. Youth offences behaviour which contained gender information was also analysed to determine if males or females commit more crime. The results showed that areas with high amounts of poverty in Birmingham, Manchester and London also displayed hotspots of anti-social behaviour. Analysis of gendered crime data discovered that males are responsible for a much larger percentage of offences than females. The results also discovered that 15 to 17-year olds are accountable for a large majority of youth offences. The discussion found that a combination of the effects of poverty such as reduced access to employment opportunities and poor qualifications once leaving education, has negatively impacted males. These impacts can increase the risk of an individual committing crimes, and since it was concluded that males commit more crime than females, this would suggest that child poverty increases the likelihood of males offending more than it does for females. Future policies to tackle child poverty in the UK will need to be government led, as it was identified the government’s efforts surrounding child poverty can have serious impacts. Furthermore, policies to reduce crime levels in poverty ridden areas can now be targeted towards males. By tailoring policies for males, the effectiveness of the policies is likely to increase rather than implementing broader policies.

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Philosophical Reflections on Child Poverty and Education

Lorella terzi.

1 University of Roehampton, LDN, UK

Elaine Unterhalter

2 IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, LDN, UK

Judith Suissa

The harmful effects of Covid 19 on children living in poverty have refocused attention on the complex nature of child poverty and the vexed question of its relationship to education. The paper examines a tension at the heart of much discussion of child poverty and education. On the one hand, education is often regarded as essential for children’s flourishing and a means by which children can “escape” poverty; yet on the other hand, education systems, institutions, and practices, often reflect and entrench the disadvantages associated with poverty. Narratives concerning education as an escape from poverty tend not to deal in any depth with the injustices associated with poverty, stressing instead the transformative potential of education. By contrast, largely sociological analyses of the ways in which schooling reproduces inequalities tend to stop short of developing a normative account of how education can contribute to transforming the structural injustices related to poverty and its effects on children’s lives. In working to move beyond this analytic impasse, the paper shows how the cluster of concepts, which Robeyns (2018) locates as central to the capability approach, give insights which help to address these two different lacunae. The notion of conversion factors highlights the significance of taking account of existing relationships in education, while the distinction between capabilities and functionings helps guide practices regarding the education of children living in poverty. Drawing on literature on the heightened inequalities associated with poor children’s experience of lack of schooling during the COVID pandemic, the paper sketches some of the ways in which sociological analysis and normative evaluation can be linked in taking forward an “ethically engaged political philosophy” (Wolff, 2018) to discuss child poverty and education in real schools.

Introduction

While exacerbating many of the harmful effects of poverty on children’s lives, the Covid years have brought into sharp relief the complexities of relationships of poverty and education and the ethical issues they raise. Two events exemplify this.

In January 2021, with UK schools closed due to the pandemic, children were not able to receive free meals at school, an essential support to thousands of families living in poverty. The government contracted a private company to distribute food to families receiving benefits. The food parcels were, however, of low nutritional quality and not at all plentiful. Mothers posted pictures on the internet recording the extremely meagre weekly food parcels they received in lieu of free school meals. For children living in poverty in England, the fears and disruptions of school closures associated with COVID were amplified by hunger, and carelessness of those in positions of authority distributing food. They were given a minimal handout, but indignity and exclusion were underlined.

In January 2022 Xolani Mtshali, a South African student, waiting to receive his final school leaving results, noted how impossible it had been for him to access the material distributed on TV and radio by the government when schools were shut: “ Even though I know there were TV and radio programmes for extra lessons, we do not have a TV at my house and on the radio they concentrated a lot on physics (which I did not study) and because I stay in a rural area people who would be able to help me with certain subjects stay very far from me, so it was difficult” ( Equal Education 2022 ). As the pandemic claimed millions of lives across the world it raised questions about what forms of social protection societies could offer those who were subjected to intense overt and covert discrimination. As many have noted, it also amplified the inequalities in societies (UNDP 2022 ; UNESCO 2022 ).

These two instances of the effects of Covid highlight many facets of the relationship of poverty and education indicating how the lack of resources in the households and communities of poor children, is compounded by cumulative effects of inadequate policy and practice, and experiences of social division. These incidents during the COVID pandemic prompt the need for philosophical reflection on the nature of the problem and how to address it.

Many studies of the effects of COVID, together with much of the academic work on children, education, and poverty, (e.g., Holt and Murray 2022 ; Hevia et al. 2022 ; Brehm et al. 2021 ), draw attention to the layers of these manifestly unjust conditions but they do not address the normative questions they raise for education. Our discussion examines this tension at the heart of much work on child poverty and education. We note how, on the one hand, education is often regarded as essential for children’s flourishing and as a means by which children can “escape” poverty. Education is thus a locus of values but the facts that shape those values are often not fully considered. Yet on the other hand, many accounts document how education systems, institutions, and practices, often reflect and entrench the disadvantages associated with poverty. In these largely sociological analyses drawing on statistical and empirical facts documenting the ways in which schooling reproduces inequalities, a number of which were assembled during COVID to record the effects of the pandemic on children’s lives (e.g., UNESCO 2021 ), there is a tendency for the discussion to stop short of developing a normative account of how education can contribute to transforming the structural injustices related to poverty and its effects on children’s lives. A range of facts is analysed, but the values to be addressed are often assumed more than directly articulated. In this paper we discuss problems with both these narratives. In attempting to overcome the limitations of both positions we adopt an approach of “ethically engaged political philosophy” (Wolff 2018 ) and seek to articulate the values and the factors that may advance the debate and inform practice. Our analysis, including a brief critical consideration of the values advanced by ideal approaches to justice, suggests that an interdisciplinary approach to these questions, informed by a normative ethical framework, can broaden out our understanding of the relationship between child poverty and education in a way that transcends the focus on the causal mechanisms by which poverty serves as a barrier to educational achievement and educational opportunities offer an “escape” from poverty.

The first part of the paper counterposes the two narratives about children’s education and poverty which arise from different perspectives and disciplinary foci, such as sociology of education and education and international development. The second part of the paper, in working to move beyond this analytic impasse associated with the two perspectives talking past each other draws on a cluster of concepts, which Robeyns ( 2018 ) locates as central to the capability approach. We use these to develop insights which help to address these two different lacunae and build some interdisciplinary framing that can help to link empirical analysis and normative evaluation in an attempt to better understand the complex interplay of child poverty and education.

Two Narratives of Poverty and Education

The two narratives we have identified in the literature on poverty, education, and childhood, which came to be deployed in the policy discussions at the time of COVID, are firstly a narrative of children shut out of quality education by poverty, and secondly a narrative of children shut up in poor schools because of poverty. We lay out some key features of each narrative and highlight work which exemplifies this. Different disciplinary concerns shape these two narratives. While both narratives are infused with values of justice and equality, albeit considered and articulated in different domains, the different ways in which these values are positioned has implications, constraining a wider analytic engagement.

In the first narrative, poor children are locked out of the opportunities for knowledge, skills, understanding, attaining learning outcomes and qualifications, autonomy, wellbeing, and relationships of flourishing associated with formal education. In these accounts, the problem of poverty is presented as external to the school, and is associated, for example, with poor housing, run down or violent neighbourhoods, families who do not value education, or do not earn enough to pay for good education, harsh government policies or inadequate delivery of education reform, because of a poverty of ambition by officials (e.g. Barrett et al. 2019 ; Pritchett 2019 ; Azevedo 2020 ;). During the COVID pandemic this narrative was often deployed showing how poor girls had less access to mobile technologies than boys and missed much more schooling (UNESCO 2022 ).

In this narrative, schools can mitigate the effects of poverty, if they can improve their ‘quality’. Policy work drawing on this narrative emphasises that the learning outcomes of poor children are behind where they should be, giving rise to significant inequalities of educational attainment. This emphasis on the learning gap has had much attention as an outcome of schools being shut during the COVID period in the UK and internationally (Education in England 2020 ; World Bank 2021 ; House of Commons Library 2021 ). In these versions of this argument there is no normative question to be addressed regarding the nature of quality education, rather, the focus is mainly on a distributional issue, regarding how to improve school organisation, learning outcomes and close the attainment gap (e.g., Weidmann et al. 2021 ; Akmal and Pritchett 2021 ). Education is equated with learning outcomes in a narrow range of subjects, with little attention to a wider range of relationships, processes, experiences, and knowledge forms. Raffo et al ( 2009 ) nuance this narrative and identify the complexity of the relationships between poverty and learning outcomes, distinguishing between accounts which document forms of poverty at the micro, meso, and macro levels. They note that perspectives on education can be divided between those which are oriented to a more functionalist view of education serving society, and those which focus on how education might develop critical perspectives (Raffo et al 2009 , 11–13). A mainstream version of the narrative that poverty is a problem of children out of school or learning little of value in school, we suggest, is more aligned with a functionalist view of education.

This articulates a clear perspective on the ways in which poverty or dysfunctional elements are to be kept outside the focus of education planning, which itself does not engage with the purpose of education beyond ‘learning’. This learning is generally narrowed down to a very limited number of outcomes in literacy and numeracy (Smith and Benavot 2021 ; D’Agnese 2017 ), which further contributes to the existing inequalities.

Thus, in the narrative that poverty is the problem, and education is a remedy or a way out, there is little space, firstly for understanding the perspectives and nuanced experiences of poor children, and what they and their parents say about school, and secondly for understanding the interconnection between macro, meso, and micro level political, economic, and socio-cultural relationships to produce and maintain poverty.

In contrast to the above narrative, attention to empirical research into the experience of children in poverty within educational contexts, can contribute to developing more nuanced and appropriate responses at school, community, national, and the international levels to make education a means for addressing poverty, and redistributing power. For example, Moletsane and Mitchell ( 2018 ) report on the use of participatory visual methodologies developed in partnership with poor girls in South Africa and Canada. These have demonstrated potential to contribute to ‘intensifying effort in relation to addressing the lived realities of girls who are marginalized and who suffer from persistent insecurity, injustice and abuse of power at the local level in otherwise democratic states’ (Moletsane and Mitchell 2018 : 437). This analysis does not bracket poverty ‘outside’ educational experiences but looks at how a range of actors – teachers, learners, social activists—can reflexively work together to take account of its many effects and processes for change. The significance of teachers, and their positioning in this work, is noted in the work Moletsane and Mitchell have done over many years (Mitchell et al. 2020 ; Moletsane 2022 ). Recent studies of the response to COVID 19 school closures and other disasters revealed how schools in areas of socio-economic deprivation worked to offer material and practical support to children and their families in ways that went far beyond the simple requirement to ensure that poor children are able to access the formal elements of schooling (Moss et al 2020 ). The mobilization of school staff in deprived areas in the UK to organize food banks and supplies of basic IT equipment for families experiencing hardship during the pandemic highlighted the ways in which there were important links between education, mental health and poverty in which teachers, parents and learners’ experiences were implicated (Kim and Asbury 2020 ; Holt and Murray 2021 ; Martin et al 2022 ). Pre-pandemic research into the shame experienced by poor children (Chase and Bantebya-Kyomuhendo 2015 ) both illuminates the emotional cost of poverty and draws attention, once again, to the need to articulate a normative framework to address the complex moral demands posed by the existence of child poverty in an educational context.

If, as in the first narrative, poverty is bracketed analytically outside the school, and education is seen as a form of remedy for poverty, the analytic focus becomes how schools can compensate, rather than understanding the process of the construction of the injustices of poverty and working to enact values of justice at all levels of the educational experience.

The second narrative is associated with a wide range of work in the sociology of education (e.g., Apple 2018 ; Allais et al. 2019 ; Ball 2016 ). Here the analysis made is that schools reproduce poverty because of the policy frameworks and injustices of distribution inside and outside schools, the ways they interconnect, and sporadic, sometimes not well thought out ways of addressing this. The problem of poverty is inside and outside the school with significant effect on children, teachers, and families. Here there are normative questions about what constitutes a good education, and what forms of justice and obligations are required to secure it, but many of the studies do not engage with this fundamental dimension. For example, two of the key works that have had major influence on this area of scholarship—Bowles and Gintis’ study of how schools reproduce the class relationships and labour market dynamics associated with capitalism, and Pierre Bourdieu’s work on cultural capital, schooling and social reproduction – do not engage with questions of what some of the positive features of education might be (Bowles and Gintis 1976 , 2002 ; Bourdieu and Passeron 1990 ).

Research into the “pedagogy of poverty” (Haberman 2010 ), for example, has shown how access to schooling and to material resources supporting poor children’s education is not sufficient to address the educational disadvantages they face. Such research has highlighted the ways in which children living in poverty are subject to low expectations and particular styles of pedagogical interaction on the part of educators. Hempel-Jorgensen ( 2019 ) sums up this research:

The ‘pedagogy of poverty’ experienced by learners in poverty is characterised by a focus on discipline, low intellectual engagement and a focus on attainment in tests. A study conducted in England shows how this can differ significantly in schools in which most children are not living in poverty…. This evidence suggests that English schools with low-income intakes are far more vulnerable to the pressures of high-stakes testing than schools with higher-income intakes, as children living in poverty are known to have significantly lower prior attainment. (Hempel-Jorgensen 2019 np)

Furthermore, a number of studies highlight how teachers’ misperception of poverty as caused by parents’ actions leads to negative and stereotypical behaviours which negatively affect their relationships with children (Schweiger and Graf 2015 ; Thompson et al. 2016 ; Unterhalter et al. 2012 ). As Treanor notes, children living in poverty express frustration at being shouted at in school, often for factors related to not having the correct equipment, which significantly affects children’s well-being, and results in progressing disengagement from learning (Treanor 2020 : 83).

Several studies enhance our understanding by looking not just at the effects of poverty on children’s academic achievement, life chances, and ability to engage with pedagogical content, but at the affective significance of living in poverty (e.g., Aber et al 2007 ). Vizard and Hills ( 2015 ), in a comprehensive review of the social policy actions of the Conservative government in the UK from 2015 to the eve of the pandemic in 2020, note the interplay of many processes resulting in conditions for child poverty and poor educational experiences and outcomes. These include erosion of the protective capacity of the welfare state, as resource, workforce and capacity pressures across public services result in a failure to meet needs, compromising quality, and eroding the resilience of public service to shocks. Thus, the widening of inequalities across multiple axes of disadvantage set conditions for increasing poverty, which were to be accentuated during the COVID. This study highlights how it is multiple relationships in and around school that shape poverty. However, it is also distinctive for identifying a number of normative positions on top of securing adequate funding for public services, which include strengthened social rights and accountability mechanisms, such as enhancing the eroded process of democratic accountability for schooling and developing multi-dimensional strategies for change. Vizard and Hill stress giving priority to the needs of the most disadvantaged and to comprehensive public action to reduce social inequalities, together with a new values-based approach to social policy: dignity and respect, recognition and valuation (Vizard 2021 ). This presents a wide range of areas for normative engagement in education, made more urgent by the COVID years.

Any articulation of a normative framework for addressing child poverty as an issue of justice is clearly enhanced by a more informed and in-depth understanding of the multiple disadvantages faced by children in poverty. However, the different ways in which values are articulated and understood has implications for shaping the ethical frameworks selected.

We have highlighted how two widely circulating narratives of children, education and poverty each tend to make the normative ethical framework to understand this process somewhat fuzzy. In the next section we highlight some elements from political theory associated with the dispersed meanings of normative concern we have charted.

Political Theory and Political Imaginaries

To summarise the above discussion, our exploration has indicated that the tension between addressing the background structural factors that create and sustain poverty and addressing the immediate educational needs of children living in poverty is a constant backdrop to the choices and judgements made by educators.

All these discussions, as Brando and Schweiger ( 2019 : 5) note, are philosophically relevant in light of the moral questions arising from conditions of disadvantage and inequality. Normatively, ideal theories of justice, such as the prominent 1971 Theory of Justice by John Rawls , provide principled positions that can guide both the analysis of what constitutes disadvantage and ways to conceptualise it, as well as principles that can guide a fair distribution of resources. Although offering also important insights for education, a thorough discussion of these is not feasible in this paper.

What can be noted, however, is that while ideal theories of justice can go some way towards offering a normative framework within which to make sense of and guide such choices and judgements, they are limited in a number of ways. Firstly, they often universalise culturally specific models of childhood, including assumptions about children’s agency and vulnerability. Within most work in liberal political theory, children are seen as young people whose capacity for moral agency in terms of self-determination, arguably an essential feature of adulthood, is not yet fully formed. They are therefore considered vulnerable and dependent, to various degrees, on the decisions and actions of adults, both within their families and other institutions, including the school. This, in turn, determines a duty of intervention to secure their material and emotional wellbeing and to defend and promote their fundamental interests, both as children and as the future adults they will become. Recent research on child poverty and education, however, questions normative positions about the moral status of children as vulnerable and dependent. Researchers have argued that such normative positions are situated in a Western and often highly abstract conception, related to the cultural and socio-economic realities of the Global North (Hanes 2019 ; Yasmin and Dadvand, 2019). Hanes ( 2019 ), for example, argues that in most of the Global South, children in poverty are considered autonomous and resilient agents. He also highlights how children whose life conditions and experiences do not conform to idealized conceptions of childhood suffer from marginalization and exclusion leading, in some cases, to forms of oppression, such as those seen, for example, in relation to First Nations child removal policies in Canada or the practices of transnational adoptions, whereby children from minority ethnic groups were removed from their families and respectively placed in institutions or adopted by white families (Hanes 2019 : 23, 30). Thus, although different models of childhood inform all theories dealing with children, perhaps the problematic feature of highly idealized views, abstracting from empirical and contextual factors, resides in how they lead to policies that, instead of protecting children, end up further disadvantaging them.

Indeed, the very question of why we should focus on child poverty—i.e., whether the moral significance of child poverty, in and of itself, is qualitatively distinct from the moral significance of poverty—already hints at these underlying ideas about the meaning and status of childhood. Thus, child poverty as a social phenomenon can be seen to involve intersecting normative and empirical dimensions, and educational questions lie at the nexus of these different dimensions.

Secondly, theories of justice often bracket out questions about the background political structures within which socio-economic inequality and poverty are inscribed, suggesting that issues of justice are best addressed within the given political sphere through measures of redistribution and institutional reform (see Sen 2006 ). While we do not deny the validity of this political point, we suggest that political structures and systems are also sustained partly through a political imaginary (Taylor 2004 ) which legitimates and normalises certain assumptions about our social and political life. For instance, Rawlsian theories of social justice, which have significantly informed the work of both political philosophers and educational theorists concerned with educational justice and equality, assume the existence of a degree of socio-economic inequality. Relatedly, the assumption, that poverty is an inevitable part of social, economic, and political arrangements, rather than the result of political choices, is a feature of much work within the first narrative sketched above. Education systems are one of the places in which this imaginary may well be reinforced, whether through teachers’ and administrators’ attitudinal and unconscious biases, the curriculum, pedagogy, or parental choices. This is not to deny, of course, that many individuals working within these systems recognize the needs and aspirations of children living in poverty.

We have drawn attention to some weaknesses of ideal theories of justice not to reject them, but to highlight the need for such critical reflection, and to illustrate how these theories interact in complex ways when they are brought to bear on questions of how to address child poverty within an educational context (Peters and Besley 2014 ). Educational spaces, our analysis has suggested, are spaces in which the complexity between these different models is often most clearly illustrated and where an ethical framework is required that holds together questions of structure, agency, facts, and values. Furthermore, as the World Inequality Report ( 2022 ) states in reflecting on some of the issues that emerged during the COVID years, ‘Inequality is always a political choice and learning from policies implemented in other countries or at other points of time is critical to design fairer development pathways.'

An Ethically Informed Perspective on Child Poverty and Education

As the discussion so far highlights, questions about the interplay of education and child poverty, brought into sharp relief by the Covid years, are best addressed with an ethically informed perspective, where the normative assumptions underlying empirical research and complex intersections of factors, including structural, cultural, and pedagogical, can be interrogated and overcome. This section shows how the cluster of concepts identified by Robeyns ( 2018 ) as central to the capability approach offers both a normative rationale for evaluating the educational disadvantage associated with poverty and insights to guide educational practice. These insights are particularly important now, in light of the widening educational inequalities resulting from the effects of the pandemic and the limited and often unsuccessful measures adopted by many countries to counteract them.

As a normative framework concerned with people’s freedom to achieve well-being, 1 the capability approach focuses on what people can do and be with the resources they have, and what kind of life they can truly lead (Robeyns 2017 : 24). At the core of the approach is a conception of well-being in terms of people’s real opportunities (capabilities) to choose among different states and activities (functionings), those that they value (Sen 4 , 1992 ). Being a pacifist, working as a gardener or participating in the life of the community are all examples of functionings that people may value, and capability corresponds to the set of real opportunities from which they can choose (Robeyns 2017 ).

Normatively, the approach is used to evaluate individual well-being, relative advantage or disadvantage, the just design of institutional arrangements, as well as social policies. The distinctive contribution of the approach to these evaluations resides in considering inequalities and disadvantage in the space of capability, that is, in terms of limitations (or deprivations) of real opportunities for well-being. Questions of justice and equality, thus, are best addressed in relation to the set of opportunities available to people to lead good lives.

In addition, Sen draws attention to the importance of considering people’s different ability to make use of the resources and opportunities they have, or their conversion factors, in the evaluative exercise of justice (Sen 1992 , 1999 ). These different factors refer to individuals’ internal features such as physical and psychological traits, as well as to factors emerging from society, for example social policies, cultural attitudes and norms, and the physical and built environment. A book, for instance, is a useful resource for reading, but not for a visually impaired person who will need a Braille version to achieve that functioning. What is important about conversion factors is that they provide information on where interventions need to be made in order to assess people’s relative disadvantage, and to expand their capabilities (Robeyns 2017 ). At the same time, considering these factors implies a multidisciplinary analysis, which draws on insights from different areas such as socio-economic analysis, development studies, and education, to name but a few (Robeyns 2017 : 36).

The above conceptual framework brings to the fore the moral dimension of poverty, and the multiplicity of factors that contribute to it, while providing an understanding that goes beyond commonly endorsed notions of poverty in terms of lack of income and external resources (Sen 1999 ). As Sen notes, different sources of deprivation may compound the disadvantage associated with poverty, thus making ‘real poverty … much more intense than we can deduce from income data’ (Sen 2009 : 256). And furthermore, the understanding and remedying of the persistence of poverty can ‘both be helped by explicit consideration of the relation between deprivation in different spaces, especially between incomes and the capability to lead secure and worthwhile lives’ (Sen 1992 : 9). Poverty is thus defined as a deprivation of capability 2 (Sen 2009 : 254) and identified at the level of deprivation of basic functionings, such as being well nourished, sheltered, healthy and, importantly, educated. The moral urgency of addressing poverty resides therefore in the level of deprivation and deep inequality entailed, as well as in its detrimental effects on overall well-being (Burchardt and Hicks 2018 ).

As stated earlier, we believe that the conceptual apparatus of the approach thus outlined offers an ethically engaged rationale that brings together normative evaluation and sociological and educational analysis in addressing the disadvantage emerging from the interplay of child poverty and education, highlighted during the COVID pandemic, while going beyond idealised approaches to justice too. The notion of conversion factors highlights the significance of taking account of existing relationships in education, while the distinction between capabilities and functionings helps guide practices regarding the education of poor children. These features, as we shall see, make the approach specifically apt to counteract the aftermath of the pandemic in ways that go beyond existing measures.

We begin by noting that an understanding of educational inequalities in terms of capability limitations has the normative advantage of highlighting and considering elements of inequality that are not readily evident if we focus only on material or educational resources, such as funding (Terzi 2021 ). If we consider, for example, the inequalities pertaining to the experiences of schooling faced by poor children, it seems evident that no amount of additional resources, in itself, can account for the limited pedagogical interactions related to the ‘pedagogy of poverty’ which, as we have seen, can characterise poor children’s schooling. This element is best accounted for by considering the socio-cultural factors that may affect a child’s use of their educational resources and adults’ response to this. Similarly, the attitudinal and unconscious biases of teachers towards poor children cannot be appropriately addressed without considering them among the socio-cultural factors that affect children’s learning. The capability approach does not discount the importance of resources in tackling these inequalities. Rather, it draws attention to how the usefulness of resources is conditioned by a complex interaction of factors and how such complexity needs to be explicitly accounted for both theoretically and practically, in relation to appropriate interventions. Thus, the approach endorses the use of resources for additional training for teachers or public campaigns to tackle discriminating attitudes, 3 for example. It is in this way that the process of socio-political and empirical analysis of conversion factors, which constrain or enlarge the capability space, becomes part of the normative discussion. These factors are not bracketed or treated as background, as the first educational narrative or indeed some ideal theories of justice seem to do but are part of the structuring of the normative framework. At the same time, the inclusion of these factors within a normative terrain facilitates incorporating the richness of sociological approaches to child poverty within an ethical framework allowing for acute analysis of crises like the COVID pandemic.

This is not only a theoretical evaluative approach, but one that can be translated into practice too. Many scholars working with the capability approach are able to use this core idea to incorporate multidimensionality into normative notions, and to develop more nuanced evaluative approaches to assessing social relationships in fields of education, health, and housing, to name a few (Chiappero-Martinetti, Osmani and Qizilbash  2020 ). As much of the extensive scholarship on the capability approach and education illuminates (e.g., Terzi 2005 ; Walker and Unterhalter 2007 ; Hart 2012 ; Walker 2019 ), the first narrative we outline, which suggests a solution of enhancing education quality inside schools, does not sufficiently attend to the complex intersecting ways in which inequality is formed both within and outside schools which the capability approach does by looking at a range of conversion factors.

The concept of conversion factors, which are environmental, political, economic, and social, highlights that the dynamics of the constraints on and expansion of capabilities entails normative choices and practical interventions. For example, a child needs literacy to enable her to access the curriculum taught at school and pass the school leaving examination. Being able to read is both a functioning and a capability. Considering environmental and political conversion factors brings to the fore how, even if a child can read, if no school has been built in her neighbourhood, or the school that is available to her is a long distance away and is staffed with teachers who lack enough experience to prepare her to enter the examination, do not talk her language, and assume children from her background are ‘backward’, the child will not be able to learn. Economic conversion factors draw attention to factors such as having to do long hours of work in the home, assisting with childcare, chores, and basic survival. Social conversion factors highlight attitudes which question, for example, a child’s school attendance because she has ‘too much book’ and does not marry young, thus incurring stigma and the risk of sexual assault. These factors need analysis both in how relationships inside and outside the school, and their interconnection , are understood. The two narratives we have sketched work in opposite directions and thus do not foster consideration of the processes associated with conversion factors working together. Drawing on the capability approach, in developing a framework to analyse literature on the gendered effects of school closures and return to school after COVID, a UNESCO overview report noted a wide range of conversion factors at play (UNESCO 2022 ).

Paying attention to conversion factors is particularly helpful in highlighting the increased inequalities of capabilities experienced as a result of Covid. As Anand et al. ( 2020a ) highlight, while the capability of learning has been significantly affected for all children around the world, existing inequalities in access to technology, parental education, and available support have exacerbated the disadvantage of children living in poverty. Specific capabilities, such as opportunities for speech and language development have been affected, particularly in the early years and more significantly for children with special educational needs and those from the most deprived neighbourhoods (Castro-Kemp and Mahmud 2021 ). As noted above, these inequalities are the result of complex interconnected environmental, social, political, and cultural factors, which are foregrounded and assessed by the capability approach. Relatedly, the opportunities to make up for the so called ‘learning loss’ caused by Covid differ too. And while some governments have attempted to address the learning loss by providing additional funding for specific programmes, for instance additional one to one and small group lessons or extended school time, such as the National Tutoring Programme deployed in England, the underlying structural social, economic, and educational inequalities have remained unchanged or have worsened, thus leading to the potential limited success of such initiatives. Consider, for example, the case of Janice, a year 7 student with insecure literacy skills attending a school in a poor neighbourhood. Janice had problems accessing remote learning and her learning has suffered as a result; moreover, she does not qualify for free access to school meals and often arrives at school hungry. Although teachers’ intervention is crucial in providing Janice with appropriate learning support, it is questionable whether such support will work, if the circumstantial factors of Janice’s situation are not addressed, and, importantly, the teaching and learning are based on limited notions of ‘catching up’. Through its attention to conversion factors, we suggest, an approach based on capability draws much needed attention to the role of schools in addressing disadvantage in interrelation with policies addressing circumstantial factors.

Finally, we posit, the conceptual apparatus of the capability approach, and its distinction between functionings and capability, offers insights that may prove helpful for addressing the education of children living in poverty. The importance accorded by the approach to well being and to the opportunities to lead good lives suggests, first and foremost, a shift from a functionalist view of education and its emphasis on a narrow set of learning outcomes, to a view of education aimed at the expansion of children’s capabilities. This more expansive view of education could, perhaps, include an expansion of the social imaginary associated with the dominant normative frameworks that we have outlined above. Thus, education is recognised as having a fertile role in enhancing children’s present and future well-being and providing real opportunities to develop functionings that will enable them to participate in the life of their communities and their broader society, and in work and leisure activities (Nussbaum 2011 ). At the same time, education itself can be one of the ways in which possibilities for social change can be imagined. A number of accounts using the capability approach to analyse educational relationships highlight this (e.g., De Jaeghere 2021 ; Walker et al. 2022 ; Unterhalter et al. 2022 ). While not discounting the importance of achieving functionings pertaining to, e.g., literacy and numeracy, the approach suggests instead a much broader conception of education, one more akin to promoting the full functionings pertaining to local, national, and global citizenship and the capacity to reflect on one’s values and goals and those of the surrounding society.

Moreover, the broader scope of education in relation to the expansion of capabilities is antithetic to any form of reductionist pedagogy, such as the pedagogy of poverty outlined earlier, but supports instead forms of pedagogical interaction and co-construction of the learning and teaching process (Brando 2020 ; Adamson 2021 ).

Lastly, the focus on capabilities, at least at the level of policy, helps unmask the inequalities of children living in poverty by considering the real opportunities they have, beyond the actual level of functionings or learning outcomes they may achieve.

It can be seen that the capability approach provides insights that allow us to address the lacunae identified in the two narratives of childhood, poverty and education we have sketched, and which continue to inform policy after the Covid years. In the first narrative the space of education is conceived as separate from the contexts of poverty, while in the second narrative the space of education is submerged by the structures associated with the perpetuation of poverty. The capability approach identifies the space of capabilities as different to these conceptions. Education has the potential to be a space of capabilities and opportunities that is not separated from social conditions, as the approach acknowledges the salience of conversion factors. But the capability space is also not simply a reflection of what may be the narrow set of opportunities offered by a society that is structured to reproduce inequalities. The capability space may be understood as a site of agency and opportunity contoured by the many historical and contemporary conditions that shape child poverty.

An ethical framework informed by the conceptual apparatus of the capability approach shows how values and ideals informed by the invaluable insights provided by educational, sociological and empirical studies can contribute to an understanding of the complexity of child poverty and the role that education plays in children’s life.

The Covid 19 pandemic has starkly refocused attention to the pressing and growing situation of children living in poverty worldwide. Capabilities threatened during the pandemic include opportunities for health, wellbeing, equity and inclusion. Work on the Covid pandemic and the capability approach has prompted a rich investigation of the ways in which institutions and innovations should be approached (Venkatapuram 2020 ; Anand et al. 2020 ; Ferrannini et al 2021 ; UNDP 2022 ). Our discussion has explored two dominant narratives about child poverty in its interplay with education and it has highlighted how each overlooks the complex ways in which normative values and contextual factors are related. The interdisciplinary conversations that enable theorists and practitioners to develop adequate responses to the pressing reality of child poverty, which has been starkly emphasised by the recent Covid 19 pandemic, we have argued, demand that we adopt an ethically informed, normative position on the desirability and the feasibility of intervening in our educational institutions, in ways that promote people’s real possibilities for leading a flourishing life. The modest, but also the possible radical potential of this perspective is captured in Jonathan Wolff’s suggestion that, at least in principle, ‘it is possible to improve individuals’ opportunities, and hence their capability set, by doing any of three interventions: improving a person’s internal traits such as strengths, skills etc., or improving their external resources including income, entitlement to services etc., and finally improving the social and cultural environment in which a person lives, including social policies, cultural attitudes and norms as well as their built environment’ (Wolff, 2007, Wolff, 2020). The normative framework we have articulated is perhaps a first step towards such an improvement on the existing situation.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Gottfried Schweiger and Frank Jeffery, and all the participants to the Workshop on Ethics, children, education and the COVID-19 pandemic held on 28 and 29 September 2022 (University of Salzburg) for their comments and suggestions. We are also grateful to the participants to the Seminar Series ‘ Child Poverty and Education: Philosophical Reflections ’ funded by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain and held between January and June 2021 (University of Roehampton and IOE UCL’s Faculty of Education). We thank two anonymous reviewers for insightful questions and support.

1 Amartya Sen originally formulated the approach as an alternative to predominant accounts of well-being based on utility (Sen 1985 , 1992 ), while Martha Nussbaum further articulated it through a list of ten central capabilities deemed necessary to live a truly human life ( 2000 , 2010).

2 Sen’s position has however been critiqued for obscuring material deprivation as fundamental to poverty. See Lister ( 2004 ), for an articulated discussion.

3 We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for pressing on this point.

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Contributor Information

Lorella Terzi, Email: [email protected] .

Elaine Unterhalter, Email: [email protected] .

Judith Suissa, Email: [email protected] .

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Navigating poverty in developing nations: unraveling the impact of political dynamics on sustainable well-being

• Yuda Kou 1 &
• Iftikhar Yasin   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6214-7989 2  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  1143 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Political instability, dismal governance, and corruption are among the factors that currently distress poverty. The primary objective of this research was to determine how political factors distress poverty in developing nations, which has perhaps not been investigated yet. The main objective was also to observe if the effect of political factors on poverty is a dilemma or a reality. Poverty (dependent variable) has been divided into two segments: income poverty index and Human Health Poverty Index; however, political factors (independent variables) studied were corruption, democracy, governance, and political globalization. Twenty-six years of data were taken from 1997 to 2022 of twenty-four developing nations. The poverty and institutional quality indices were constructed through Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The Fixed Effect, System GMM, and 2SLS approaches were used to determine the dynamic impact on poverty. Furthermore, this study incorporated fixed effects with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors to address cross-sectional dependence. The findings indicated that, although there was a significant connection between governance and income and human poverty. Democracy also showed a negative and significant relationship in the income poverty model but insignificant in the human poverty model. Political globalization showed negative and significant associations with poverty models (income and human poverty). Conversely, corruption showed a significant positive relationship in poverty models, i.e., income and human poverty.

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Introduction.

Poverty refers to a state or condition characterized by the absence of adequate financial resources and critical provisions necessary to meet the minimal requirements for a satisfactory standard of living, both at an individual and community level (Bununu, 2020 ; Wu et al., 2024 ). Poverty is a state characterized by a significant deficiency in meeting the fundamental needs of humans. It is currently an extreme challenge for the world and the foremost developmental objective in attaining equity in income distribution, leading to poverty reduction (Ogbeide and Agu, 2015 ). Moreover, It is the most critical problem hindering the progression of humanity as it happens to be a considerable phenomenon (Abbas et al., 2018 ). Poverty has additional harmful impacts on developing nations compared to developed nations. Notably, global developmental agendas such as the MDGs and SDGs, complete list of acronyms is given in Table S1 , Supplementary Information, have taken poverty, a developmental concern, into general consideration. MDGs focused on decreasing worldwide poverty severity between 1990 and 2015, whereas SDGs concentrate on ending poverty until 2030.

Poverty in developing countries is a significant issue, as the abstract indicates. The poorest regions on the planet are often represented by nations with many people living in extreme poverty (Hotez and Thompson, 2009 ). Figure 1 illustrates that in Honduras, 14.2% of the population resides in extreme poverty, with a poverty gap of 5.1%. In contrast, Georgia and Brazil exhibit lower rates, with 5.6% and 5.3% of their populations living in extreme poverty, respectively. Their poverty gaps also fall within the highest quantile, but they are nonetheless lower than those of Honduras. Here, Fig. 2 indicates that Pakistan faced infant mortality of 57.4 per 1000 live births, with child mortality being in the top quantile among the selected nations. Whereas the Dominican Republic exhibits the second-highest infant mortality rate at 28.6 per 1000 live births, positioning its child mortality under five within the uppermost quantile.

Poverty head count by poverty gap of selected Countries.

Infant mortality rate by mortality rate under 5 of selected Countries.

Moreover, different countries, provincial organizations, and Non-governmental Organizations have designed their agendas to decrease poverty or bring it to an end to defeat the problem according to their capability. However, the aspiration to eradicate poverty persists in numerous emerging countries (Deyshappria, 2018 ). Approximately 719 million people are predicted to live below the poverty level (World Band, 2023 ). Though it is also a familiar reality that the global poverty level has considerably decreased in the previous twenty years, much still needs to be done.

The topic of poverty alleviation is notable for developing nations’ development economists and economic plan builders. Efficiently, poverty begins the hypothesis that families’ welfare is essentially and absolutely tied to their capability to utilize commodities and services. More consumption results in better well-being (Wu et al., 2024 ). A household is poor if its spending capacity is low and it meets a few conditions (Satti et al., 2015 ). There are two ways to depict poverty. The first step is to quickly affect people with low incomes. This will break the poverty cycle. Another way to reduce poverty is to create a policy that boosts economic growth (Chani et al., 2011 ).

This study investigated factors distressing poverty in chosen developing nations, like democracy, corruption, governance, and political globalization. Democracies, as opposed to non-democracies, enhance the welfare of the deprived people. These arguments align with prominent political economy models that posit democracies as generators of numerous public goods and proponents of more significant income redistribution than non-democratic systems (Ross, 2006 ). It is supported by the redistribution theory, which argues that policies aiming at lowering income inequality via social programs, taxes, and wealth redistribution may be brought about by democratic institutions (Adserà et al., 2003 ; Besley and Persson, 2011 ).

Corruption disturbs the lives of poor people in several ways, such as distracting government expenses from socially priceless goods like education, distracting communal assets like health clinics through infrastructure investments, and increasing government expenditures on capital-abundant investments, which offer many opportunities for bribes like defense agreements (Ajisafe, 2016 ). Gupta et al. ( 2002 ) also claimed that corruption benefits the elite while depriving the rest. Political globalization has many complex effects on poverty in developing nations. Political globalization can boost trade, investment, jobs, and economic growth. However, political globalization can promote inequality and exploitation, worsening poverty. Globalization increases absolute poverty in the short- and long-term. According to Age’nor and Pierre-Richard ( 2004 ), globalization may immediately increase absolute poverty due to many causes. These factors include transaction costs, insufficient human capital, and inflation. It may also reduce poverty over time. Kawachi and Wamala ( 2007 ) indicated that openness may accelerate and expand transferable diseases like HIV Footnote 1 and H5N1, which can exacerbate poverty by reducing labor productivity and supply. This negative outcome can hurt the poor more than the rich, showing that openness may promote growth without reducing poverty. It may also affect societal norms and habits like eating and smoking (Yach et al., 2007 ), impacting health and efficiency.

The preceding discussion shows that hardly any updated study has probed the political factors of income and human health poverty in developing nations and performed a comparative analysis. Clarifying this relationship is the goal of this study. Our main goal is to quantify how corruption, governance, democracy, and political globalization directly affect income and human health poverty in developing nations. This novel approach examines how often these factors cause poverty, not just correlations. To better understand poverty’s multidimensionality, we create income and human health poverty indices. For robustness, we use advanced econometric methods like two-stage least squares (2SLS), system generalized method of moments (SGMM), and Driscoll-Kraay (DK) standard errors to address endogeneity and cross-sectional dependence (CD). This study examines political factors causing poverty in selected developing nations to fill the gap.

Several aspects distinguish this study from existing research. Firstly, we move beyond establishing mere correlations and quantify the frequency with which political factors distress poverty. This novel approach provides valuable insights into the circumstances under which political factors most significantly impact poverty. Secondly, by taking into account both the economic and the health aspects of poverty, our dual poverty indices enable a more complex understanding of the multiple nature of poverty. Finally, using advanced econometric techniques strengthens the reliability and generalizability of our findings.

Furthermore, the period from 1997 to 2022, chosen for this study, aligns with several significant global economic events and trends that have impacted developing nations. This era witnessed the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis (1997–1998), the global financial crisis (2007–2008), and the rise of globalization, characterized by increased international trade and investment. These events have had profound effects on economic stability, governance structures, and poverty levels worldwide. Understanding the political and economic dynamics during this period provides essential context for analyzing how political factors distress poverty in developing nations.

Prior studies have investigated the possible correlation between political issues and poverty, although there remains a dearth of comprehension regarding the frequency and magnitude with which these elements directly contribute to poverty in developing countries. The objective of this study is to fill this gap by examining the following hypothesis:

H1: Political factors (democracy, governance, corruption, and political globalization) have a significant impact on poverty (income and human health) in developing nations.

This study aims to contribute valuable insights to the ongoing fight against poverty by investigating the prevalence of political factors distressing poverty. Our novel approach, detailed methodology, and robust results offer a deeper understanding of these complex dynamics, ultimately informing the development of more effective poverty reduction strategies for developing nations.

The next part illustrates the literature review. Theoretical framework and methodology have been provided in the third section. The results and discussions are briefly given in the fourth part. The last and final section brings about the conclusion and policy implications.

Literature review

Poverty, a complex issue with profound economic and social impacts, weighs heavily on developing nations. Although economic factors undeniably play a significant role, the influence of political forces on poverty outcomes is profound. This review thoroughly examines existing academic literature, analyzing the various ways in which governance, democracy, corruption, and political globalization interact with poverty in developing contexts.

Wu et al.’s ( 2024 ) study focused on the social determinants of poverty in a few developing nations that have received little prior research. According to the findings, there is a substantial and positive correlation between poverty and the age-dependence ratio, whereas there is a significant and negative correlation between poverty and social globalization. The income poverty model is unaffected by health and education, yet these factors have a negative and substantial association with human poverty. Similarly, population expansion significantly and favorably affected human poverty but had little effect on income poverty. While Wu et al. ( 2024 ) investigate the influence of social determinants, it is crucial to explore how political dynamics might interact with these factors to exacerbate or alleviate poverty.

In a study by Fambeu and Yomi ( 2023 ), an examination was carried out on 40 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa from 1999 to 2018. This study’s findings indicated no clear correlation between the presence of democracy and the reduction of poverty in these particular nations. In their study, Zang et al. ( 2023 ) analyzed data from 1992 to 2017, encompassing 117 economies. Their research examined the relationship between political globalization and national poverty, revealing a significant positive correlation. The exacerbation of national poverty resulting from political corruption was mitigated by implementing primary education and utilizing the Gini index as an intervening mechanism. However, the timeframe of these studies might not capture the most recent developments.

According to Salahuddin et al. ( 2020 ), their research indicates that globalization has reduced poverty and increased corruption in South Africa from 1991 to 2016. The research study focused on South Africa, a country classified as an upper-middle-income country, where poverty is prevalent in developing economies. Additionally, its time frame may not encompass the latest trends. Using PCSE and the SGMM model, Dossou et al. ( 2023 ) confirmed that governance superiority leads to poverty decline in 15 Latin American countries from 2003 to 2015. While Dossou et al. ( 2023 ) focus on Latin America, their time frame might not capture the recent trends. By applying data from five waves of China Family Panel Studies, Han et al. ( 2022 ) found that the anti-corruption campaign in China raises income and declines the poverty occurrence of the (possible) poor group. This study focused on China, so the results might not be generalized.

Corruption has a significant impact on poverty in developing countries. Poor people are more likely to be victims of corrupt behavior by government officials, as they heavily rely on government services (Olken and Pande, 2012 ). Corruption in developing nations represents regressive taxation that disproportionately affects low-income people and hampers development (Nwabuzor, 2005 ). Studies have shown that corruption is prevalent in many developing nations and forms a prominent feature of bureaucratic life (Justesen and Bjørnskov, 2014 ).

Ajisafe ( 2016 ) suggested that corruption affected poverty in the short run, but not in the long run, in Nigeria from 1986 to 2014. This study focused on Nigeria only, which might not be generalized to all developing economies. Aguilar ( 2017 ) selected poor democracies, rich democracies, poor non-democratic nations, and prosperous nations. The results suggested that in a democracy, circumstances, and citizens might affect the declining level of poverty. Cepparulo et al. ( 2017 ) examined whether financial and institutional development interrelates in poverty impacts. The results showed that financial development considerably and positively affected poverty alleviation. Although researchers used institutions, they did not categorize which types of institutions. Moreover, the timeframe of these studies might not capture the recent trends.

Yunan and Andini ( 2018 ) found that economic growth affected corruption considerably, and it also happened between poverty and corruption in ASEAN economies from 2002 to 2015. They used a small period; only the Granger causality test and random effect model were insufficient. Khan and Majeed ( 2018 ) depicted that economic and social globalization considerably alleviates overall poverty, whereas political globalization does not considerably alleviate poverty in 113 developing economies from 1980 to 2014. Besides globalization, other political factors affecting poverty were ignored. Aloui ( 2019 ) observed the governance impact on poverty in Sub-Saharan African nations and found that governance indicators positively and negatively influenced poverty alleviation from 1996 to 2016.

In their study, Gupta et al. ( 2002 ) examined the impact of corruption on poverty and income disparity. Their findings revealed that a one-standard-deviation rise in corruption was associated with an eleven-point increase in income inequality. Interestingly, individuals experiencing poverty observed a five-percentage point annual improvement in income growth.

In their study, N’Zue and N’Guessan ( 2005 ) examined the relationship between corruption, poverty, and economic growth. Their research revealed a complex interplay between these variables in 18 African economies from 1996 to 2001. Specifically, the authors identified multiple dimensions of this relationship. Firstly, they observed that the condition of economic growth can lead to both corruption and inequality. Secondly, they found that inequality serves as a causal factor for corruption. Thirdly, the authors noted that corruption and poverty jointly impact economic growth. Additionally, they discovered that poverty and growth simultaneously influence corruption. Lastly, N’Zue and N’Guessan ( 2005 ) found that inequality and growth affect corruption. They have undoubtedly used panel data from 18 African countries, but the time was minimal, only five years.

Governance, political globalization, and corruption significantly impact poverty in developing countries. Good governance, including effective government, control of corruption, and a stable political system, can promote economic growth, minimize income distribution conflicts, and reduce poverty (Hassan et al., 2020 ). On the other hand, poor governance, characterized by corruption, ineffective governments, and political instability, not only hampers income levels through market inefficiencies but also increases poverty incidence through income inequality (Tebaldi and Mohan, 2010 ). Additionally, the study suggests that economic liberalization in countries with high levels of corruption can lead to faster economic growth but does not improve distributive justice, resulting in increased poverty and unchanged inequality levels (Hanlon, 2012 ). Furthermore, the relationship between good governance and poverty is beneficial for middle-income countries but not low-income countries, indicating that governance reforms alone may not be sufficient to reduce poverty in all countries (Choi and Woo, 2011 ).

A review study undertaken by Resnick and Birner ( 2006 ) found that indicators of governance that describe a healthy decision-making environment for investment and policy achievement. political stability and the rule of law, are linked by growth; however, they give diverse consequences concerning poverty alleviation. Ross ( 2006 ) confirmed that democracy had a slight or no impact on poverty variables.

According to Hasan et al. ( 2006 ), the measurement of good governance, which includes factors such as a solid commitment to the rule of law, significantly impacts poverty reduction primarily due to its influence on economic growth. Tebaldi and Mohan ( 2010 ) examined the detrimental effects of corruption, poor governance, and political instability on income levels. The incorporated timeframes in the above studies might not capture the recent trends.

In a study by Nwankwo ( 2014 ), the author examined the impact of corruption on Nigeria’s economic growth. A significant correlation between corruption and economic growth over an extended period has been identified. This study is limited to Nigeria, which might not be generalized to all developing economies. According to Dzhumashev’s ( 2014 ) recommendation, the impact of corruption on public expenditures is influenced by the correlation between corruption and governance, which in turn influences economic growth. According to the findings of Goryakin et al. ( 2015 ), there is a significant association between globalization and the increasing prevalence of overweight among women. Surprisingly, the phenomenon of social and political globalization gives rise to the impact of economic considerations. Although the study used 56 low- and middle-income countries, the time was limited.

While existing literature has shed light on the complex relationship between political factors and poverty in developing nations, crucial gaps remain. Many of the studies’ timeframes are old enough, so they might not capture the recent trends in poverty. Notably, only a few studies have quantified the frequency with which specific political factors directly affect income and human health poverty across various contexts in developing economies. The delicate interplay between these factors and poverty dimensions, like human health, requires further exploration. Hence, this study aims to bridge these gaps by utilizing advanced econometric techniques to systematically investigate the prevalence of political factors affecting various facets of poverty in selected developing nations. By filling these critical knowledge gaps, our research aspires to inform the development of more targeted and effective poverty reduction strategies for those nations most burdened by this persistent challenge.

Theoretical framework and methodology

This research study examines the political factors influencing poverty in twenty-four developing countries. According to the inclusive institutions theory given by Daron Acemoglu and Robinson ( 2013 ), broad access to economic opportunities and property rights are protected by inclusive political and economic institutions, which are associated with increased economic success and decreased poverty. The redistribution theory highlights that policies aiming at lowering income inequality via social programs, taxes, and wealth redistribution may be brought about by democratic institutions. A more equitable allocation of resources is thought to reduce poverty (Adserà et al., 2003 ; Besley and Persson, 2011 ). Gupta et al. ( 2002 ) argued that corruption causes income inequalities as the elite benefit from corruption while the rest of the population stays in poverty. At the same time, greater income inequality is linked to greater poverty levels. Hence, following Acemoglu and Robinson ( 2013 ), Gupta et al. ( 2002 ), and Hanmer et al. ( 2003 ), we developed the following model:

In the above equation, Poverty, CORRUP, and DEMOC capture poverty, democracy, and corruption. Panel data covering the twenty-six-year period from 1997 to 2022 was employed. Twenty-four developing nations from lower-, middle-, and upper-middle-income countries were chosen for this study. The nations were selected based on data availability for poverty variables. The list of nations is detailed in Table S1 , Supplementary Information. The empirical dataset utilized in this research comprises key indicators reflecting poverty metrics, including poverty headcount and poverty gap, alongside vital health indices such as infant and child mortality rates, sourced from the World Development Indicators database, a repository maintained by the World Bank.

Additionally, metrics indicative of political dimensions encompassing government effectiveness, control of corruption, voice and accountability, absence of violence, political stability, regulatory quality, and rule of law were acquired from the Worldwide Governance Indicators dataset, also sourced from the World Bank. The data about democracy metrics were obtained from the Freedom House Data, whereas indices such as the Corruption Perception Index and Political Globalization were sourced from the Transparency International and KOF Globalization datasets. These diverse and meticulously acquired datasets collectively underpin the empirical foundation for this study’s comprehensive analysis of the interplay between poverty dynamics and multifaceted political determinants. Data was investigated by applying E-views 13 along with STATA 17.

The proposed model of the impact of political factors on poverty, presented in the above equation, has been extended as follows:

The subscript “i” denotes countries, which are 1–24, and “t” indicates the period. The continuous and some poverty level estimates are shown by \({\alpha }_{0}\) and \({\beta }_{0}\) . IPI = Income Poverty Index generated through the combination of poverty headcount and poverty gap. IPIit-1 = Income Poverty Index lag, HHPI = Human Health Poverty Index generated through the combination of child and infant mortality rates. HHPIit-1 = Human Health Poverty Index lag, LNCORRUP = Log of Corruption, LNDEMOC = Log of Democracy, GOV = Governance as measured by developing an index of government effectiveness, control of corruption, voice, and accountability, absence of violence, political stability, regulatory quality and rule of law, LNPGLOB = Log of Political Globalization.

The present segment includes the description of the variable incorporated in this study. The variables are chosen because of their comparative significance on a theoretical and empirical basis. The definitions of these selected variables are given below in Table 1 :

Limitations of conventional econometric methods, like fixed and random effects, can lead to unreliable results due to heteroskedasticity, endogeneity, and serial correlation. This study uses the 2SLS methodology to address these concerns. Developed by Cumby et al. ( 1983 ), 2SLS offers an advantage over Ordinary econometric methods by relaxing the assumption of no correlation between regressors and the error term. This assumption violation can lead to biased estimates and undermine the homogeneity hypothesis (Pesaran and Yamagata, 2008 ). To address the endogeneity issue, 2SLS replaces potentially endogenous regressors with instrumental variables, mitigating the bias and providing more reliable estimates. Recognizing these advantages, we opt for 2SLS as our analytical tool, offering a robust alternative to conventional methods.

While the 2SLS method represents a significant advancement in econometrics, it has limitations compared to the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) for panel analysis (Maydeu-Olivares, Shi, & Rosseel, 2019 ). Specifically, Arellano and Bond’s ( 1991 ) GMM estimation addresses issues like endogeneity, serial correlation, and heteroskedasticity more effectively than 2SLS. This is because GMM uses lagged instrumental variables, mitigating potential endogeneity concerns, and allows for flexible assumptions regarding error structures, accommodating serial correlation and heteroskedasticity. Given these advantages, this study utilizes the GMM estimator for its robustness in handling the challenges mentioned above in panel data analysis. Hence, the model recommended in this study is the GMM Footnote 2 proposed by Arellano and Bond ( 1991 ). The selection of GMM over alternative models was based on several factors. The reasons mentioned above encompass the following. According to Roodman ( 2006 ), the use of the GMM is advantageous in cases when the number of years (T) is smaller than the number of countries (N). In the present study, the number of years (T) is 22, which is indeed less than the number of countries (N), which is 24. (ii) The technique of constructing instrumental variables addresses potential endogeneity concerns in the regressors (Omri and Chaibi, 2014 ). (iii) This technique does not eliminate the presence of cross-country idiosyncrasies. (iv) SGMM captures the cross-country heterogeneity (Gregoriou and Ghosh, 2009 ). Standard estimate approaches, such as most minor square regressions, may be susceptible to dynamic panel bias, facilitating the elimination of country-specific heterogeneities. Finally, the inclusion of a lagged independent variable (namely, one lag of income and the HHPI) as a regressor variable in the model enhances the proficiency of the GMM estimator, enabling it to provide unbiased and trustworthy estimation.

Cross-sectional dependency might provide estimations that are not reliable. We thus used the fixed effect (FE) models with DK standard errors for our regression analysis to allay this concern. Driscoll and Kraay ( 1998 ) developed the DK technique, which was used to address problems with serial correlation, cross-sectional variability, and panel data reliance. This technique works well with missing values and can also be used for balanced and imbalanced datasets. Additionally, it provides robust standard errors and has proven accurate and consistent in handling CD difficulties (Baloch et al., 2019 ).

Before analyzing the panel data, it is crucial to assess the presence of CD. CD arises when there is a reciprocal influence between two or more cross-sectional units (Liu et al., 2021 ; Yasin et al., 2023 ; Yasin et al., 2024 ). This phenomenon emerges due to factors like deep financial and economic integration and exposure to global trade and commerce, all of which render these units susceptible to the effects of global economic shocks. Consequently, these interdependencies between nations can affect panel data from cross-sectional countries. Following the assessment of CD, the homogeneity of slope coefficients is evaluated using the Pesaran and Yamagata ( 2008 ) slope heterogeneity test. This evaluation is necessary because differences in the economic, social, and demographic contexts of 24 developing nations can potentially impact the reliability of panel estimators. To account for such dependencies and potential heterogeneity across variables, second-generation unit root tests (CIPS) are employed.

This study investigates the relationship between income poverty, human health poverty, corruption, globalization, democracy, and governance in 24 developing countries. Before estimating long-term parameters, establishing the co-integration of the underlying variables is crucial. Therefore, this study employs the Pedroni ( 2004 ) co-integration analysis to examine the presence of co-integration among the variables.

Results and discussion

The descriptive statistics of the sample data utilized in the research for political factors have been presented in Table 2 .

Income poverty index

This index is created through two proxy variables, such as poverty gap and headcount, as the highest correlation has been found in both variables. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) results for constructing the comprehensive index for chosen developing nations are presented in Table 3 . As shown in Fig. 3 , which follows the scree diagram criterion and Kaiser ( 1974 ), only one component is kept that is allocated to hold specifically those factors having eigenvalues above 1. Table 3 brings out just one component having an eigenvalue of 1.90281 above 1. Overall, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) statistics are 0.620, and Kaiser ( 1974 ) argues that 0.5 or above 0.5 is good enough to describe the sample satisfactorily enough to take forward the investigation.

Scree plot of Eigenvalues after PCA for Income Poverty Index.

Human Health Poverty Index

Infant and child mortality rates are vital in determining human health deprivation (Hanmer et al., 2003 ). Hence, this study incorporated the Infant Mortality Rate and Child Mortality Rate to capture the health poverty of humans. This index is created through two proxy variables, including child and infant mortality rates, as the highest correlation has been found in both variables. Table 4 contains the PCA results from which the comprehensive index for chosen developing nations will be derived. According to the scree plot criterion presented in Fig. 4 , one component has been retained. Furthermore, only 1 component has eigenvalues above 1, which is 1.99696. Overall, the statistics for KMO are 0.670, and Kaiser ( 1974 ) pursues 0.5 or greater than 0.5, which is sufficient to confirm sample adequacy for the investigation.

Scree plot of eigenvalues after PCA for Human Poverty Index.

For governance (independent variable of political factors), the institutional quality index is constructed by combining the data of six variables, i.e., government effectiveness, control of corruption, voice and accountability, absence of violence, political stability, regulatory quality, and the rule of law (Apergis and Ozturk, 2015 ; Yasin et al., 2019 ).

Table 5 shows the findings of the PCA analysis used to create the comprehensive index for a subset of developing nations. The table below shows that only one element comprising eigenvalue 3.73263 is above 1. The scree plot, exhibited in Fig. 5 , also indicates the retention of only one component. Overall, the statistics for KMO are 0.7620, which shows that the data is large enough to estimate.

Scree plot of eigenvalues for governance (institutional quality index) after PCA.

Results and discussion in the income poverty model

This research investigates the impact of corruption, governance (specifically Political Institutional Quality), and democracy on income and human health poverty in 24 developing countries from 1997 to 2022. To assess the presence of cross-sectional dependency within the series, we initially employed the CD test proposed by Pesaran ( 2021 ). This is necessary as the first generation’s conventional panel unit root methods may yield unreliable results when confronted with CD, particularly when its magnitude is low. This study employed Pesaran CD tests. Table 6 below demonstrates cross-dependence in this panel. Khan ( 2019 ) also investigated similar results. We use the technique developed by Pesaran and Yamagata ( 2008 ) to verify the slope homogeneity. As observed by Table 7 , the results validate the presence of a heterogeneous slope in model 1 and reject the null hypothesis of a homogeneous slope. The covariances of Model 1 (IPI) are presented in Table S3 , Supplementary Information. The findings suggest a positive association between corruption and governance with the IPI, while a negative association is observed between democracy and political globalization with the index mentioned above.

The utilization of the second-generation CIPS panel unit root test, as reported by Pesaran ( 2007 ), has been motivated by the existence of CD inside the panel dataset. Table 8 presents the findings, indicating that all variables exhibit stationarity at their levels and after being differenced once.

Table 9 contains Pedroni’s panel co-integration test results. The outcome rejects the null hypothesis of no co-integration and asserts that the series has a long-run association. Long-run associations may be recommended to subsist among the variables, meaning they travel collectively to a steady stability phase. The results are the same as those of Dursun and Ogunleye ( 2016 ).

This study employs multiple estimation techniques to explore the identified associations between income poverty and its potential determinants. These techniques include FE, supported by the Hausman and Heterogeneity tests, SGMM, DK, and 2SLS estimators. The results in Table 10 reveal a positive and statistically significant association between past and present poverty levels in our sample of developing countries. The lagged poverty coefficient estimated using the SGMM method is 0.5521, while the 2SLS estimate is 1.1248. These findings indicate that higher poverty levels in the preceding year contributed to increased poverty in the current year. This means that countries with higher poverty rates in the past are more likely to have higher poverty rates in the present, creating a persistent cycle of poverty, which might be due to the poverty trap. Individuals and communities trapped in poverty face various disadvantages, like limited access to education, healthcare, and productive resources. These disadvantages perpetuate poverty by hindering people’s ability to rise above their circumstances and find better opportunities (Banerjee and Duflo, 2011 ). Our analysis further reveals a statistically significant and positive association between corruption and income poverty across several estimation methods, including FE, DK, SGMM, and 2SLS. These findings align with the previous work of Ajisafe ( 2016 ), who also identified a positive relationship between these variables.

Furthermore, the assertion made by Gupta et al. ( 2002 ) is reinforced by this finding, suggesting that corruption contributes to the perpetuation of income inequalities. This is because the privileged few reap the benefits of corrupt practices while most of the population remains impoverished. Corruption diverts public resources for poverty alleviation programs and social services towards private gain. This misallocation deprives the poor of vital resources like healthcare, education, and infrastructure, hindering their ability to escape poverty (Rose-Ackerman, 1997 ). Furthermore, widespread corruption can erode trust in government institutions and weaken social capital. This lack of trust and cooperation hinders collective action and community development, making it difficult for low-income people to advocate for their rights and improve their circumstances collectively (Putnam et al., 1992 ).

The findings further reveal a robust and statistically significant negative association between income poverty and democracy across various estimation methods, including FE, DK, SGMM, and 2SLS. These results support the notion put forth by Ross ( 2006 ) that democracies are more effective in alleviating poverty compared to non-democracies within developing countries. Democratic governments are more likely to prioritize investments in public goods and services that benefit everyone, including the poor, such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure. This can improve human capital and productivity and ultimately reduce poverty Acemoglu and Robinson ( 2013 ). This finding is also supported by the redistribution theory, which argues that policies aiming at lowering income inequality via social programs, taxes, and wealth redistribution may be brought about by democratic institutions (Adserà et al., 2003 ; Besley and Persson, 2011 ).

The estimated coefficient for the institutional quality index, reflecting governance quality in developing countries, exhibits mixed statistical significance across various estimation methods. Despite remaining positive across all methods (FE, DK, and SGMM), its significance varies from less significant in SGMM and FE to highly significant in DK and 2SLS. This finding suggests that while governance may positively impact poverty reduction, the current level of institutional quality in developing countries may not be robust enough to exert a statistically significant effect consistently. The same findings are suggested by Karim et al. ( 2013 ). Furthermore, Jindra and Vaz ( 2019 ) argued that the beneficial effect of good governance on poverty reduction is more pronounced in middle-income countries than in low-income countries.

Interestingly, the study by Ochi et al. ( 2023 ) explores a similar question but focuses on South Asian and Sub-Saharan African countries. Their findings suggest a non-linear relationship, where governance quality starts to decrease poverty only above a certain threshold. Furthermore, these results align with Perera and Lee ( 2013 ), who found that institutional quality, such as bureaucratic quality, increases poverty in developing countries. These differing results show how complex governance and poverty associations are. While our findings suggest a potential negative association in some contexts, the referenced study and other research emphasize the potential benefits of good governance for poverty reduction. Further research considering regional variations, non-linear effects, and different poverty definitions is necessary to fully understand this intricate dynamic.

Political globalization is substantial (1%) and has negative coefficients for both FE, DK, and SGMM. Due to political globalization, poverty is significantly declining in these developing nations. Bergh and Nilsson ( 2014 ) and Salahuddin et al. ( 2020 ) also provide similar suggestions on these results. The GMM estimators are subject to efficiency and validity tests, namely the autoregressive coefficient (AR) (2) test for second-order autocorrelation and the Sargan test for over-identifying restrictions. The AR value in Table 10 displayed above is 0.196, exceeding the threshold of 0.05 and lacking statistical significance. The observed result invalidates the presence of second-order autocorrelation in the model. The Sargen test yielded a value of 0.823 in the case of SGMM and 0.6851 in the case of 2SLS, which was deemed statistically insignificant since it was above the threshold of 0.10. This suggests that the instruments employed in the SGMM and 2SLS estimations are valid and that the overidentifying limitations are not violated.

Results and poverty in the model of human health poverty model

Table 6 indicates the cross-dependence occurrence in this panel. The findings stated are identical to Yasin et al. ( 2019 ). Table 11 illustrates how the data negate the null hypothesis of a homogeneous slope and supports the existence of a heterogeneous slope in model 2. The covariances related to Model 2 (HHPI) are displayed in Table S4 , Supplementary Information. The results indicate a positive correlation between corruption and governance with the HHPI, while an inverse correlation is noted between democracy and political globalization with the mentioned index.

The unit root tests are presented in Table 8 , employing the level and the first difference approaches. Based on the results obtained from the CIPS test, it can be observed that all variables exhibit stationarity when differenced once, but only a limited number of variables demonstrate stationarity at the original level.

Pedroni’s panel co-integration test in Table 12 describes the results. The test statistics indicate the incident of long-run association amid the series. It may be recommended that associations subsist among the variables in the long run. This means they travel collectively toward a steady equilibrium phase, and Dursun and Ogunleye ( 2016 ) have the same findings.

Table 13 displays the estimated coefficients for the human health poverty variable. Across our panel of developing countries, the lagged human health poverty coefficient exhibits positive and highly significant values (at the 1% level) in both SGMM and 2SLS estimations. This finding indicates a substantial and statistically significant direct impact of the previous year’s poverty levels on current poverty, highlighting the persistence of human health poverty. Human health poverty and corruption also have a positive and substantial association, confirming the findings of Ajisafe ( 2016 ). This outcome is also supported by Gupta et al. ( 2002 ) supposition that corruption causes income inequalities as the elite benefit from corruption while the rest of the population stays in poverty, deteriorating human health. The analysis reveals a negative association between human health poverty and democracy. This finding suggests that democratic institutions in developing nations might contribute to mitigating poverty levels.

The coefficient of governance (Political Institutional Quality Index), an index of six indicators of institutional quality, is highly significant and positive in the case of DK and 2SLS but comparatively less significant in the case of FE and SGMM, indicating that governance, instead of decreasing, significantly increases poverty. The main reason for this outcome is poor and adverse governance in developing countries. Another reason may be that the institutions distinguished through political instability create hindrances for growth instruments, and the capabilities of a nation are restricted. The same findings are suggested by Karim et al. ( 2013 ). Political globalization has a very significant and negative coefficient. This indicates that poverty is declining considerably in these developing nations due to political globalization. Bergh and Nilsson ( 2014 ) and Salahuddin et al. ( 2020 ) also provide recommendations on these results. This outcome might be because stronger international relations facilitate better policy coordination and the exchange of information and resources, which may support initiatives to reduce poverty (Dreher, 2006 ; Dollar and Kraay, 2004 ).

For the GMM estimators, the efficiency and validity tests are AR (2), a test for second-order autocorrelation, and a Sargan test for over-identifying limitation. The AR (2) value in Table 13 above is 0.386, more than 0.05 and not statistically significant. This outcome rejects the incidence of second-order autocorrelation in the model. The Sargan test statistic yields p-values of 0.419 and 0.6109 for the SGMM and 2SLS estimations, respectively. As both values exceed the conventional 0.10 significance level, these results offer no evidence of instrument invalidity or violation of overidentifying restrictions in the SGMM and 2SLS estimations.

Policy recommendations

Our research question focused on understanding how political factors contribute to poverty in developing nations. This study employed a panel data analysis for 24 developing countries from 1997 to 2022, investigating the impact of corruption, governance (political institutional quality), democracy, and political globalization on income and human health poverty.

Our study provides compelling evidence that political factors influence poverty levels in developing countries. The findings provide robust evidence for the significant influence of political factors on poverty levels. Corruption exhibits a positive and statistically significant association with income and human health poverty, highlighting its detrimental effects. Conversely, democracy presents a negative and significant association with poverty, suggesting its potential to alleviate poverty. The relationship between governance and poverty seems more complex, with varying degrees of relevance across various estimating techniques. Political globalization, on the other hand, demonstrates a strong negative association with both income and human health poverty, indicating its potential for fostering poverty reduction.

These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers addressing poverty in developing nations. The detrimental effects of corruption on poverty necessitate robust anti-corruption measures. Empowering anti-corruption agencies, increasing transparency in government spending, and strengthening legal frameworks to deter corruption are crucial steps.

The positive association between democracy and poverty reduction underscores the importance of fostering solid democratic institutions. This might involve supporting initiatives that promote free and fair elections, protect freedom of speech and assembly, and enhance citizen participation in governance.

The positive impact of political globalization suggests that international cooperation can play a vital role in tackling poverty. This includes fostering collaboration among developing countries to share best practices, promoting fair trade agreements, and encouraging international investments contributing to sustainable development.

Real-world examples further illustrate the effectiveness of these policy recommendations. Initiatives like Rwanda’s successful anti-corruption efforts and India’s focus on empowering local governments through democratic processes offer valuable insights. China’s focus on strengthening anti-corruption measures through targeted campaigns and institutional reforms offers a compelling example. This highlights the importance of a comprehensive approach to tackling corruption. Additionally, regional trade agreements like the African Continental Free Trade Area demonstrate the potential of international cooperation in promoting economic growth and poverty reduction.

Conclusions

The primary aim of this study was to assess the influence of political factors on poverty levels within a specific set of developing countries. The dependent variables utilized in this study were the income and HHPI, whereas explanatory variables were selected based on political issues. PCA was employed to create poverty indicators and an institutional quality index. Subsequently, CD tests were utilized to verify the presence of cross-dependency in the panel data. Following the confirmation of cross-sectional dependency, the analysis employed CIPS methodology to investigate stationary variables. The study employed the Pedroni co-integration test to analyze the enduring association between the variables. The SGMM methodology was employed to ascertain the dynamic impact on poverty since it is deemed more appropriate to employ GMM in cases where there are contemporaneous correlations among cross-sections.

Corruption has increased income and caused human poverty in these developing countries. It is a significant economic disaster that harms society’s growth and development and the economy in general. However, democracy showed that it had decreased income and human poverty but with statistically illustrated insignificant results. In democratic societies, openness and freedom should also be able to give weightage to the capacity and capability of each person, group or firm participating in economic activities.

Governance in these selected developing countries had verified constructive, considerable, and insignificant links between income and human poverty. Overall governance, if appropriate, casts a positive effect on all sectors of human life. The economy is one essential part of an individual’s life. The selection of the governance team is the most essential thing in running a country. The governance team ought to include a few members who have at least basic knowledge of the economy and what governance elements economic policies need in their implementation.

Political globalization showed a negative and highly significant relationship between poverty and both kinds of poverty i.e., poverty in terms of income and human health. Countries should work more on political globalization because they have a highly significant relationship with reducing income and human poverty. The focus should be on sharing information, results bearing effective government policies, and further establishing, if already existing, links for flows of goods, capital, and services, international trade, and investment, where both sides of countries can benefit mutually.

Furthermore, fighting corruption and strengthening democracy are crucial to reducing poverty in developing countries. This means empowering anti-corruption agencies, clearing government spending, and protecting free speech. Additionally, developing countries should collaborate with others to share ideas and create fair trade deals. These steps and investments in education and healthcare can help build a brighter future.

Data availability

The data analyzed in this study are available at https://databank.worldbank.org and https://kof.ethz.ch/en/forecasts-and-indicators/indicators/kof-globalisation-index.html .

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Kou, Y., Yasin, I. Navigating poverty in developing nations: unraveling the impact of political dynamics on sustainable well-being. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 1143 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03670-6

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Poverty — Child Poverty

Essays on Child Poverty

Child poverty essay, types of child poverty essays.

• Argumentative Essay: This type of essay requires you to take a stance on the issue of child poverty and provide evidence to support your argument. The goal is to persuade the reader to take action against child poverty and advocate for policy changes that can alleviate it.
• Cause and Effect Essay: This type of essay explores the causes and effects of child poverty. It can delve into topics such as the impact of economic policies, lack of access to education, and inadequate healthcare on children's well-being.
• Solution Essay: This type of essay focuses on providing practical solutions to child poverty. It can examine successful poverty reduction programs, innovative policies, and initiatives that have worked in different contexts.

Child Poverty: Argumentative Essay

• Conduct thorough research: Collect data and statistics on child poverty rates and its impact on children's health, education, and well-being. It is essential to have accurate information to support the argument and persuade the reader effectively.
• Choose a clear stance: Decide on a clear position on the issue and develop a thesis statement that outlines the writer's argument.
• Address counterarguments: Anticipate counterarguments and address them in the essay to show that the writer has considered other perspectives and is confident in their position.
• Provide evidence: Use statistics, case studies, and real-life examples to support the argument and provide evidence of the impact of child poverty.
• Use persuasive language: Use persuasive language to convince the reader of the importance of the issue and the urgency of taking action to address it.

Cause and Effect on Poverty Essay

• Identify the causes of child poverty: Before writing the essay, research and identify the various factors that contribute to child poverty. Some of the factors to consider include income inequality, unemployment, lack of access to education, healthcare, and social services, among others.
• Analyze the effects of child poverty: Once you have identified the causes of child poverty, analyze the effects it has on children's lives. This may include poor health outcomes, limited educational opportunities, and increased rates of social and emotional problems.
• Use statistical data and research: To support your arguments, use credible sources such as academic articles, reports, and statistics to provide evidence of the prevalence and impact of child poverty.
• Provide possible solutions: In addition to analyzing the causes and effects of child poverty, suggest possible solutions to address the issue. This may include policies and programs that can provide economic and social support to families living in poverty.
• Use a clear and concise language: Avoid using jargon or complex language. Write in a clear and concise language that is easy to understand for a broad audience.

Child Poverty: Solution Essay

• Research the topic: Before you start writing, make sure you research the topic thoroughly. This will help you understand the causes and effects of child poverty, as well as existing solutions and initiatives.
• Identify the root causes: Identify the root causes of child poverty and how they contribute to the problem. Common causes of child poverty include lack of access to education, inadequate employment opportunities, low family income, and insufficient social services.
• Propose practical solutions: Develop practical and effective solutions to mitigate child poverty. These may include initiatives such as increasing access to education, creating employment opportunities, providing social services, and developing support programs for low-income families.
• Provide evidence: Support your proposed solutions with evidence, data, and statistics to demonstrate their feasibility and effectiveness.
• Address potential objections: Anticipate and address potential objections to your proposed solutions. This will help strengthen your argument and demonstrate that your proposed solutions are viable.
• Use a clear and concise writing style: Use a clear and concise writing style to effectively communicate your ideas and arguments.

Tips for Choosing a Topic:

• Focus on a specific aspect of child poverty: Narrowing down your topic will help you to stay focused and provide a more in-depth analysis of the issue. For example, you can focus on the impact of poverty on children's education or health.
• Use recent statistics: Using recent data and statistics can help you provide a clear picture of the magnitude of the problem. For example, you can use data from the United Nations or the World Bank to support your argument.
• Find real-life examples: Providing real-life examples of children living in poverty can help create an emotional connection with your reader and add depth to your essay. For example, you can talk about the experiences of children living in poverty in your community or country.

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