When governments end social programs like cash transfers to economically disadvantaged people, what is the impact on their children, their grandchildren, and beyond? It’s a question Economics Professor Jon Denton-Schneider is trying to answer.

Denton-Schneider studies the historical causes and economic consequences of poverty and poor health, and he’s particularly interested in unexpected positive or negative occurrences that economists refer to as “shocks.”

One such shock — the introduction of the 1834 “New” Poor Law in England and Wales — caused generational impacts that could be observed in census data roughly 60 years later. Denton-Schneider and Jennifer Mayo, professor of economics at DePaul University, are working on a National Institutes of Health-funded project called “Rags to Rags,” which examines the effects of ending cash transfers in Victorian Britain.

"We saw very clearly that if you were in a county where there was a larger decline in poor relief after 1834, when you grew up, you would have worse outcomes," says Denton-Schneider. "If you were a girl around 1834, one of the clearest impacts we see is that in 1861, you have more children."

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.