Measuring Poverty in America
By Douglas J Besharov
2007
Summary: This paper describes the technical flaws of the Federal poverty measure. The official poverty measure does a poor job accounting for inflation and counting market income. It ignores major forms of wealth such as wealth embedded in homes and the stock market. The poverty measure does not subtract taxes or take into account changes in family/household structure. It does not account for changing consumption patterns or increases in national affluence. It also does not account for geographic differences in the cost of living. The official poverty measure does a poor job measuring poverty alleviation efforts (e.g., the Earned Income Tax Credit). The obstacles to reform are discussed (e.g., correcting the technical flaws in the official poverty measure is scientifically difficult and raises many legitimate conceptual disagreements). A table presenting the Census Bureau definitions of income is included.
Index Terms: Family Support, Federal Role, Poverty, Research Reports, Welfare Reform, Federal Funding, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), U.S. Census Bureau
Publisher: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Publication Type: Viewpoints
Pages: 19 pages
Language: English
Availability
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