Skip over navigation   Introducing the Issue Ron Haskins Isabel
Sawhill  A Strategy for Success  The fact that the nation has
made only modest progress against poverty over the past three
decades does not mean that progress is impossible. As the
decline in poverty among female-headed families during the 1990s
shows, poverty can be reduced substantially. The success of
welfare reform also suggests a general strategy for cutting
poverty further— namely, by a judicious use of sticks and
carrots to encourage or require responsible behavior by
individuals and to reward responsible behavior with increased
income or opportunity. Progress in the battle against poverty is
also more likely if the nation can improve the education of poor
children who currently fall behind their more privileged peers
during the preschool years and never catch up. The articles in
this volume, written by some of the nation’s top scholars,
outline eight specific proposals that, following this general
strategy, have a high likelihood of redu