Does Leaving Home Make You Poor? Evidence from 13 European Countries

This paper examines the extent to which the relationship between leaving home and entry into poverty among young people is causal: that is, how far poverty entry is the result of leaving home, rather than arising from heterogeneity or selection. Using propensity score matching, we estimate the effect of home-leaving on entry into poverty and deprivation, with data from the European Community Household Panel. We find that leaving home does have a causal effect on poverty entry, particularly in Scandinavian countries; cross-national differences are partly, but not fully, explained by differences in destinations on leaving home.