Fighting poverty revisited : What did researchers know 40 years ago ?

macroeconomic policies kept the economy growing, then real wages would continue to increase steadily for workers throughout the wage distribution. The additional resources being devoted to the new antipoverty initiatives would further contribute to poverty reduction, for example, by raising the skills and employment of those who had been left behind by economic growth. Employment and training programs would enhance skills and launch their graduates into an economy with low unemployment and growing wages. Human capital programs, from Head Start for preschool children through Pell Grants for college students, would prevent poor children from becoming the next generation’s poor workers. Together, macroeconomic and antipoverty policies would sustain economic performance, raise the productivity of the poor, and remove discriminatory barriers to economic participation.