The paper uses data from a household survey of three rural communities and interviews in the Mfantseman Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana to investigate the costs incurred by households that choose either fee-free public schools or low-fee private schools. The paper shows that both provisions impose costs that place those with lower…

This article reports on a study focusing on the use of multilingual cultural resources in child-headed households (CHHs) in Uganda's Rakai District. Using funds of knowledge and sociocultural perspectives on children's learning, we documented through ethnographic observations and interviews how children in four CHHs used multilingual…

This paper studies multidimensional poverty for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico and Uruguay for the period 1992-2006. The approach overcomes the limitations of the two traditional methods of poverty analysis in Latin America (income-based and unmet basic needs) by combining income with five other dimensions: school attendance for…

Purpose: This article contributes new empirical evidence and nuanced analysis on the gender difference in access to extension services and how this translates to observed differences in technology adoption and agricultural productivity. Approach: It looks at the case of Ethiopia, where substantial investments in the extension system have been…

At the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000, governments pledged to achieve education for all by 2015. However, if current enrollment trends continue, the number of out-of-school children could increase from current levels. Greater focus is needed on lower secondary school age (13-16 years) children. These children are not included estimates of…

In the face of growing international support for recognition of child-headed households, the author poses the following questions: What does the internationally recognised right to alternative care for children entail? Is the recognition of child-headed households as a form of alternative care in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child…

This study examines how familial contexts affect poverty disparities between the children of immigrant and US-born Blacks, and among Black and non-Black children of immigrants. Despite lower gross child poverty rates in immigrant than US-born Black families, accounting for differences in family structure reveals that child poverty risks among…

In this paper we offer new evidence on earnings and income volatility in the United States over the past four decades by using matched data from the March Current Population Survey. We find that between 1973 and 2008 family income volatility rose by 38 percent, primarily as a result of higher volatility of husbands earnings and non means-tested…

In 2007-2008 almost 17% of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years were obese. Childhood obesity often tracks to adulthood and, in the short run, childhood obesity can lead to psychosocial problems and cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and abnormal glucose tolerance or diabetes. Studies have suggested that…

Capturing the conditions of children of color living in single-parent families has become more complex due to the growing presence of interracial households. This analysis assesses the size and poverty status of single-female headed families housing multiracial children. Using data from the 2000 Census, we find that 9 percent of female-headed…

We introduce a simple empirical model that assumes a positive stigma (or norm) towards child labor that is common in some developing countries. We then illustrate our positive stigma model using data from Guatemala. Controlling for several child- and household-level characteristics, we use two instruments for measuring stigma: a child's indigenous…

America's high schools are hemorrhaging talent at the rate of seven thousand students every school day--a steady drip that grows into a tidal wave of more than 1.2 million dropouts each year, a number equal to the entire population of Dallas or San Diego. Jobs that require relatively little education are increasingly done by machines or shipped…

Several recent reports have highlighted the earnings gap between high school graduates and dropouts; however, earnings tell only part of the story. Families rely on income from salary for regular expenses, but real economic security requires accumulated wealth. Education can be the key to higher earnings, but it is even more importantly linked to…

Following the ongoing increase in nonmarital fertility, policy makers have looked for ways to limit the disadvantages faced by children of unmarried mothers. Recent initiatives included marriage promotion and welfare-to-work programs. Yet policy might also consider the promotion of three generational households. We know little about whether…

Homeless youth face many barriers that limit success in the educational process. Subgroups of homeless youth frequently experience the educational process differently depending upon their residential context. Recent years witness the federal government's expanding the definition of homelessness to include youth living doubled-up. This residential…