Alba Lanau.- Pobresa infantil a Espanya amb dades de l’Enquesta de Condicions de Vida de 2014.

Abstract:
Methods: Analysis of the 2014 Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida. Poverty is operationalised through material deprivation measures which capture household’s ability to afford basic needs. I use an adapted EU measure containing only child/adult specific items.

Findings: Households strive to protect children from poverty but are not always able to do so. The combination of adult and child-specific deprivation measures allows identifying a subset of particularly vulnerable households who are often deprived of basic needs. In the last recession around 17% of households with children both adults and children were deprived of basic needs. – It is likely to be much larger in the next recession. In the last recession a substantial minority of children could cover social, leisure and extended educational needs.

Some other interesting results: Parents tend to go without so that children do not experience the consequences of poverty. There are no gender differences in the probability of sacrificing needs for children (i.e. mothers do not sacrifice more than fathers), unemployed and part-time workers are more likely to go without.

Conclusions: The article argues for more ambitious policy interventions to protect households with children, particularly in times of recession. Household level measures under-estimate poverty among parents.