Economic Crisis, Youth (Un)Employment, Child Poverty, and Social Inclusion in Developed and Developing Countries

PANEL at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Eastern Economic Association.

In the aftermath of the global economic and financial crisis and amidst the new debate about the Sustainable Development Goals, the issues of child poverty and youth unemployment and joblessness have taken centre stage.

Drawing on findings presented in the CROP publication "Child Poverty, Youth (Un)Employment, and Social Inclusion" recently published by Ibidem Verlag, this panel will provide a critical assessment of the progress made in terms of child (and youth) poverty reduction and the improvement of access to decent labour conditions over the last decade.

This kind of evaluation will be enriched by discussing new and innovative theoretical approaches to both the short- and long-term causes and consequences of child and youth poverty, with a particular emphasis on decent labour as a main factor of social inclusion based on data and evidence of Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe.

Poverty reduction has been high on the international agenda since the start of the millennium. Worldwide progress, however, has been slow and limited. Social protection responses to the crisis have been marginal or produced mixed results in developing countries, while poverty and social exclusion have exacerbated in many developed ones.

Within this context, the papers in this proposed session critically raise the question of what policy strategies can break the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty transmission.

Session Chair:

• CROP Fellow Enrique Delamonica, UNICEF, Nigeria

Presenters:

• CROP Fellow Maria Petmesidou, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece

• Christos Papatheodorou, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece

• Aldrie Henry-Lee, University of the West Indies (UWI), Jamaica.

• CROP Scientific Committee member Alberto Minujin, Executive Director of Equity for Children, The New School for Social Research, USA

• Ismael Cid Martinez, The New School for Social Research, USA