Intergenerational transmission of poverty in Turkey

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi, İktisat Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2016

Öğrenci: GÜLİN ÖYLÜ

Danışman: MELTEM DAYIOĞLU TAYFUR

Özet:

This study examines the presence and dynamics of intergenerational transmission of poverty in Turkey and attempts to reveal the possible channels through which childhood poverty affects household income later in life using the “intergenerational transmission of disadvantages” module of the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) (2011). The results show that childhood poverty decreases total household income by 5%. However, the effect of childhood poverty differs for the different components of household income. The results also show that childhood poverty increases the likelihood of choosing wage employment as adults but once this employment status is chosen, the experience of childhood poverty is not associated with lower labor income. However, education of parents is important in determining the level of pay. Among those who choose own-account work, the economic status of the family remains important: those coming from poor households earn less than other. Finally, the results suggest that experiencing poverty during childhood increases the likelihood of being income poor in adulthood as well. The bivariate probit results further show that current poverty status and childhood poverty status of an individual are not independent of each other. Unobservable factors that increase childhood poverty probability also increase the probability of being currently poor. In all specification and models, part of the intergenerational transmission of poverty appears to be happening through education. Hence, policy instruments that aim to bring about equality in opportunity in education are likely to reduce the intergenerational transmission of poverty.