Child poverty in Ontario: The value added of material deprivation indicators for comparative policy analysis in North America

Abstract

North America lags behind in the use of outcome-based indicators such as material deprivation to study child poverty. Instead income indicators dominate research and policy-making. A large body of international research concludes that income poverty and material deprivation are complementary indicators because each measures specific but related aspects of material well-being. For children this distinction is even more pertinent because children have specific needs and their material circumstances affect both their current and future well-being. This research uses Ontario data to investigate whether material deprivation also contributes to a better understanding of child poverty in North America. It shows that the choice of poverty indicator affects estimates of the level of child poverty, its correlates, and the success of policy interventions in reaching poor children.