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The presentation will first describe the child poverty situation in the United States and how it compares with other countries. After an overview of the major causes of child poverty and current anti-poverty policies, three general strategies and specific policy recommendations for reducing child poverty will be discussed:

• Increasing the labor market earnings of poor parents by supporting work and making it pay
• Supplementing market incomes more effectively with public cash transfers and tax credits, and with child support payments from absent parents, and
• Improving poor children's long run economic and social prospects.

Robert Plotnick is professor of public affairs at the University of Washington Evans School of Public Affairs. He teaches economic analysis and social welfare policy, and is chairman of the Population Leadership Program at the University of Washington. He is also Adjunct Professor of Economics and Sociology and is a Research Affiliate with the University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Research on Poverty. He has been on the UW faculty since 1984. Professor Plotnick’s research primarily addresses poverty, income inequality, income support policy, teenage childbearing and related social policy issues. His current research projects include the effect of child support policies on nonmarital childbearing and an analysis of how nonmarital childbearing has changed during the past 70 years. Professor Plotnick’s Ph.D. is in economics, but he is strongly committed to multidisciplinary research, as evidenced by his publications in economics, political science, sociology, public policy and social work journals.