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Misunderstanding poverty. (Review).(Understanding Poverty )-

Article Excerpt
SINCE its founding in 1966, the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin at Madison has been the inner sanctum of academic research on poverty in America. Under its aegis gather most of the nation's leading scholars on the subject. Every few years, the IRP holds a conference on the state of poverty and poverty research, and then publishes the papers. Understanding Poverty + is the latest of these volumes. Its editors, Sheldon Danziger and Robert Haveman, are leading economists and former directors of the Institute.

As description, the book excels. The chapters track the shifting size of the poor population. They portray the changing social and economic conditions surrounding poverty: Need levels rose in the 1970s and 1980s because the number of female-headed families increased and wages for low-skilled jobs stagnated. But poverty fell in the 1990s due to a leveling off of unwed childbearing and superb economic conditions. Other chapters describe the social programs that affect poverty levels, including Social Security, welfare, and Medicaid. The authors are all recognized experts, and they write clearly. Like its predecessors, Understanding Poverty will surely be used widely in courses about poverty and social policy.

Nevertheless, like earlier IRP compendia, the book does not truly explain why poverty occurs or how to overcome it. How can...