Monday, May 25, 2009

Report on Long-Term Effects of Current Recession on Children

Courtesy of NYT Economix blog, below is a link to an important report examining the potential effects of the current recession on children. This is something that we have not discussed enough on the blog. Mark had a nice post on the literature relating to long-term health effects.

With respect to the Irish case, residential instability may not be so much of a problem, or at least not be exacerbated by the downturn. The effect of parental psychological distress due to unemployment and financial strain is something I would like to know and think more about. I also wonder what effects being in a neighborhood that is contracting substantially has on self-concept and expectations. There may be direct effects also. For example, we have reports today of one kid being sent home from school because his school fees were in arrears but I have no way of knowing the extent of this type of thing. One other effect is parents switching to cheaper high calorie foods due to declining budgets.

http://www.fcd-us.org/usr_doc/Final-2009CWIReport.pdf

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