The number of children living in poverty is declining, a Columbia University study has concluded. This welcome news is yet another tangible result of conservative government policies. Numbers are improving The number of children living in poverty is declining, a Columbia University study has concluded. This welcome news is yet another tangible result of conservative government policies.
Researchers attribute it to two factors, improving economic conditions and welfare reform.
The economy has been on the mend since the early 1980s, when disastrous inflation was overcome and the gross domestic product began rising, along with the standard of living for people at all levels of society. Welfare reform was enacted by the new conservative majority in Congress that took office in 1994 over vehement opposition. It underwent two presidential vetoes before it was signed during an election year. Poverty in America has a complex history. After World War II, which ended the Great Depression, it began to decline rapidly.