22 Researchers estimate that the increase in the poverty rate because of the recession would have been much larger without the effects of income security programs. 23 Public funding of education is another way that governments can help offset the advantages some households have in resources available for children. One of the most consequential examples is early childhood education.
In our Bank’s fourth quarter 2010 Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions, for example, cropland values in Nebraska and Kansas were nearly 20 percent above year-ago levels and more than 75 percent higher than five years ago.