Rags to Rags: The Effects of the New Poor Law across Three Generations

Budget cuts are common during times of fiscal austerity and often include substantial reductions in welfare spending. In developed economies, the withdrawal of income support for poor families can have wide-ranging consequences in the short run, including increasing poverty and criminal activity as well as worsening health and educational outcomes. However, our understanding of the long-run effects is generally limited to an assessment of those adults who were children when the programs began. Therefore, despite the prevalence of income support programs in the developed and developing worlds, we generally lack the data to study their effects on the health and well-being of the low-income population across its life course and into subsequent generations. The implementation of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 in England and Wales offers a unique opportunity to fill this gap in our knowledge. This project uses historical data to examine the short and long run effects associated with the elimination of income support programs.