{"id":25799,"date":"2025-11-10T13:46:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T18:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&#038;p=25799"},"modified":"2025-12-08T14:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T19:33:07","slug":"rags-to-rags-the-multi-generational-shock-of-the-victorian-poor-law","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/10\/rags-to-rags-the-multi-generational-shock-of-the-victorian-poor-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Rags to Rags: The multi-generational &#8216;shock&#8217; of the Victorian Poor Law\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<iframe allow=\"autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; clipboard-write\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"175\" style=\"border:0;width:100%;max-width:800px;overflow:hidden;background:transparent;\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/do-cash-transfers-have-an-intergenerational-impact\/id1608025510?i=1000735783677\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>When governments end social programs like cash transfers to economically disadvantaged people, what is the impact on their children, their grandchildren, and beyond? It\u2019s a question <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/departments\/economics\/\">Economics<\/a> Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/jon-denton-schneider\/\">Jon Denton-Schneider <\/a>is trying to answer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Denton-Schneider studies the historical causes and economic consequences of poverty and poor health, and he\u2019s particularly interested in unexpected positive or negative occurrences that economists refer to as \u201cshocks.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"wp-block-group alignright boxout has-darker-blue-color has-light-teal-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-5f405faaf63377f394ffbba6364e5d66 is-content-justification-left is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-12dd3699 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Study Economics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/departments\/economics\/undergraduate-programs\/\">Undergraduate program<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/departments\/economics\/phd-program\/\">Graduate program<\/a><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p>One such shock \u2014 the introduction of the 1834 \u201cNew\u201d Poor Law in England and Wales \u2014 caused generational impacts that could be observed in census data roughly 60 years later. Denton-Schneider and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jennifer-mayo.com\/\">Jennifer Mayo<\/a>, professor of economics at DePaul University, are working on a National Institutes of Health-funded project called \u201cRags to Rags,\u201d which examines the effects of ending cash transfers in Victorian Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We saw very clearly that if you were in a county where there was a larger decline in poor relief after 1834, when you grew up, you would have worse outcomes,&#8221; says Denton-Schneider. &#8220;If you were a girl around 1834, one of the clearest impacts we see is that in 1861, you have more children.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Challenge. Change.<\/strong>\u00a0is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4UuYAjq1d3Hq45cjwxoCNL\">Spotify<\/a>\u202for\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/challenge-change\/id1608025510\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-clarku-background-color has-darker-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-f050d559d32cc399b9f73c2977964d6d\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10)\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-1024x683.avif\" alt=\"man sitting at table talking into podcast microphone\" class=\"wp-image-25613 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-1024x683.avif 1024w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-300x200.avif 300w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-768x512.avif 768w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-1536x1024.avif 1536w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-2048x1365.avif 2048w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-1200x800.avif 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">More Clark stories on Challenge. Change.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/27\/addressing-the-globes-polycrisis\/\">Addressing the Globe\u2019s Polycrisis with Lou Leonard, Dean of Clark University\u2019s School of Climate, Environment, and Society<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/15\/indulging-your-inner-child-with-photographer-and-professor-stephen-dirado\/\">Indulging Your Inner Child with Photographer and Professor Stephen DiRado<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/21\/an-introverts-clark-journey\/\">An Introvert&#8217;s Clark Journey with Dean of Students Danielle Morgan Acosta<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When governments end social programs like cash transfers to economically disadvantaged people, what is the impact on their children, their grandchildren, and beyond? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":25802,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-darker-blue)","story_headerImg":25802,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[239],"displayed_author":[237],"featured":[495],"topic":[164,150,160,176],"class_list":["post-25799","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-worcester-world","displayed_author-melissa-hanson","featured-research","topic-economics","topic-faculty","topic-faculty-research","topic-podcast"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rags to Rags: The multi-generational &#039;shock&#039; of the Victorian Poor Law\u00a0\u00a0 | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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