Books appear to benefit children because parents who buy a lot of books are likely to read to their children. Parents who do not buy books for their children are probably not likely to read to them even if the books are free, and parents who do not take their children on outings may be less likely to spend time with them in other ways. To determine what effect increasing income would have on children, Mayer studied the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, a study by the National Opinion Research Center that collects data on children, including children whose mothers are on welfare. She also used data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. By following the experiences of the mothers and children over several years, Mayer was able to determine changes in behavior among families whose income had increased.
Higher income increases the number of years children attend school by only one-fifth of a year.
Higher income does not reduce the amount of time sons are idle as young adults. Higher income reduces the probability of daughters growing up to be single mothers by 8 to 20 percent. As a result, children are likely to be better housed and better fed, but not necessarily better educated or better prepared for high-income jobs. In order to deal with the problems of poverty, more needs to be done to deal with the non-monetary problems that encourage poverty, such as low educational achievement, young motherhood, single parenting and racism, Mayer said.