Targeting Investments in Children: Fighting Poverty When Resources Are Limited.

Targeting Investments in Children: Fighting Poverty When Resources Are Limited, edited by Phillip B. Levine and David J. Zimmerman, is available from the University of Chicago Press for $99.00.

About 17 percent of American children under the age of eighteen live at a level that meets the government's definition of poverty, and the proportion is even greater within minority groups. Childhood poverty can have lifelong effects, resulting in poor educational, labor market, and physical and mental health outcomes for adults. Numerous programs are designed to alleviate or even eliminate poverty; as they compete for scarce resources, it is important to analyze their impact. The papers in this NBER Conference Report evaluate these programs using a common...