WASHINGTON: Children who grow up poor in the United States cost the economy $500 billion a year because they are less productive, earn less money, commit more crimes and have more health-related expenses, according to a new study. "The high cost of childhood poverty to the U.S. suggests that investing significant resources in poverty reduction might be more cost effective than we thought," said Harry Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University and the Urban Institute and one of the four authors of the report. Holzer was one of several poverty experts who testified Wednesday to the House Ways and Means...