
Vox | A Wong/Getty
The reduction of poverty through income transfers [like unemployment insurance benefits] in itself is a good thing, but what we show is that beyond reducing hardship, these transfers have the ability to reduce that link between childhood poverty and adult poverty. In other words, they have the ability to reduce that link between conditions that you didn’t choose, that you inherited as a result of your birth and your parents’ economic circumstances when you were young, and your ability to meet your basic needs in your own adulthood.