PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jenkins, Stephen P.
AU  - Schluter, Christian
TI  - Why Are Child Poverty Rates Higher in Britain than in Germany?
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.XXXVIII.2.441
DP  - 2003 Mar 31
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 441--465
VI  - XXXVIII
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/XXXVIII/2/441.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/XXXVIII/2/441.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2003 Mar 31; XXXVIII
AB  - We analyze why child poverty rates were much higher in Britain than in Western Germany during the 1990s, using a framework focusing on poverty transition rates. Child poverty exit rates were significantly lower, and poverty entry rates significantly higher, in Britain. We decompose these cross-national differences into differences in the prevalence of “trigger events” (changes in household composition, household labor market attachment, and labor earnings), and differences in the chances of making a poverty transition conditional on experiencing a trigger event. The latter are the most important in accounting for the cross-national differences in poverty exit and entry rates.