11.020 Poverty, Public Policy and Controversy, Fall 2003

This course covers topics and questions such as: What is poverty?  How is it defined and measured in the United States and other countries?  What are the different program designs that countries use to relieve poverty?  To answer these questions, the course examines the main public policy frames that guide theory, research, policy, and practice.  How do the definition and policies to deal with poverty change over time? What are the economic, political, and social forces that contribute to the persistence of poverty and its periodic reframing?  Can social science to help to resolve the public policy debates that make poverty and its relief so controversial?