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A Systematic Review of
Poverty Dynamics
This is a major review of research on the dynamic
- or life-course - perspective of poverty. Until the 1990s, the
study of poverty in the UK was limited largely to point-in-time
comparisons of poverty rates using repeat cross-sectional surveys.
However, in recent years there has been an expansion in the availability
of longitudinal data - tracking specific individuals or households
over time - leading to a wide range of studies exploring poverty
dynamics. This represents a shift away from studying snapshots of
poverty to a dynamic perspective, from which it is possible to investigate,
for example, why some poor people move out of poverty while others
remain persistently poor.
As this crucial approach gathers pace, a comprehensive
review of poverty dynamics studies is required urgently. This review
has two aims. First, by mapping existing studies, it will highlight
gaps in poverty dynamics research and so identify priorities for
future research programmes. Second, the findings of existing studies
will be synthesised in order to inform policy in relation to the
reduction/eradication of poverty and disadvantage.
In achieving these aims, the project builds on
the relatively recent - but increasing - use of systematic review
methodology in social policy. This innovative methodology involves
identifying all potentially pertinent studies from a broad, specified
range of sources, using a structured search strategy. This search
has resulted in excess of 10,000 references. These are systematically
assessed and screened for relevance and quality using predefined
criteria, so that the project is able to catalogue and collate a
complete set of best available evidence. It is this evidence which
will be mapped and synthesised.
It is anticipated that the synthesis will provide
insight on questions such as, for example:
- what are the factors and transitions in people’s
lives that lift them out of, pull them into, or keep them persistently
in poverty?
- which groups experience persistent or cyclical
poverty?
- what measures can help combat poverty?
- what effect does child poverty have on later
outcomes as an adult?
- how does household and individual poverty change
over time, and how does it vary for different sub-groups?
- what are the effects of transitory and cyclical
poverty, as opposed to persistent poverty?
In support of the systematic review, the project
will also consult with international experts on poverty research
in order to identify techniques for the analysis of poverty dynamics
that might be imported for use in the UK.
By presenting the first, complete collection of
the best research on poverty dynamics in the UK, the project should
help to move concerns with poverty persistence up the policy agenda
and suggest possible policy solutions.
Details about how the review was conducted are given in the Review Protocol  document.
Start date: May 2004
Completion date: 2007
Sponsor:
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Project team: Noel Smith, Sue
Middleton, Jacqueline Beckhelling, Laura Adelman, Kate
Legge, Abigail Davis
and Sarah Gonzalez and Nicola Selby.
Publications
Smith, N. and Middleton, S. (2007) A Review of Poverty Dynamics Research in the UK, Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
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