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, ...
We compare patterns of movements into and out of poverty by children in Britain and Western Germany using data from the British Household Panel Survey and the German Socio-Economic Panel for the period 1992-97. In Britain poverty persistence was greater, and poverty exit rates in particular were lower, than in Western Germany. In both countries, poverty was particularly persistent among children in ...