A concluded that babies of poor mothers who received cash stipends experienced changes in their brain activity patterns. Advocates for the now-expired child tax credit hope the finding will help restore support for this and other federal anti-poverty programs.
糖心传媒淣ot so fast,糖心传媒� writes , a professor of history and health policy at the , and a practicing physician, in a published in the newspaper糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淢ade by History糖心传媒� section. 糖心传媒淭his line of argument suggests that ending poverty in its own right is not a sufficient goal and that improving the brain function and biology of poor babies should drive policy.糖心传媒�
Raz draws on her own research while also tracing the history of anti-poverty policies in the US such as Project Head Start. She asks:
If poor children糖心传媒檚 brains are 糖心传媒渋mproved糖心传媒� from cash benefits, does that imply that their brains are biologically inferior to begin with? Presenting social science interventions as having the potential of 糖心传媒渇ixing糖心传媒� poor children糖心传媒攁nd among this group the overrepresented number of children who are from minority backgrounds糖心传媒攈as the distinct risk of fueling a debate about whether some children and families are innately and immutably inferior.
Based on a wealth of evidence, working to reduce child poverty is good policy in itself, she argues. With nearly living in poverty, a rate far higher than in peer countries, 糖心传媒渢hese children deserve better, and their advocates don糖心传媒檛 need to rely on the shape of children糖心传媒檚 brain waves to make that case.糖心传媒�
Raz is the University糖心传媒檚 Charles E. and Dale L. Phelps Professor in Public Policy and Health, professor of history, and a physician at the University糖心传媒檚 Strong Memorial Hospital. The author of What糖心传媒檚 Wrong with the Poor? Psychiatry, Race, and the War on Poverty (University of North Carolina Press, 2013) and Abusive Policies: How the American Child Welfare System Lost Its Way (University of North Carolina Press, 2020), Raz is an expert on the history of US poverty and child abuse policies over the last half century.
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