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. 2015 Summer;34(3):567-592.
doi: 10.1002/pam.21833.

Waging War on Poverty: Poverty Trends Using a Historical Supplemental Poverty Measure

Liana E Fox  1 , Christopher Wimer  2 , Irwin Garfinkel  3 , Neeraj Kaushal  4 , Jane Waldfogel  5
Affiliations

Waging War on Poverty: Poverty Trends Using a Historical Supplemental Poverty Measure

Liana E Fox et al. J Policy Anal Manage. 2015 Summer.

Abstract

Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and the March Current Population Survey, we provide poverty estimates for 1967 to 2012 based on a historical Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). During this period, poverty, as officially measured, has stagnated. However, the official poverty measure (OPM) does not account for the effect of near-cash transfers on the financial resources available to families, an important omission since such transfers have become an increasingly important part of government anti-poverty policy. Applying the historical SPM, which does count such transfers, we find that trends in poverty have been more favorable than the OPM suggests and that government policies have played an important and growing role in reducing poverty-a role that is not evident when the OPM is used to assess poverty. We also find that government programs have played a particularly important role in alleviating child poverty and deep poverty, especially during economic downturns.

Keywords: Historical Supplemental Poverty Measure; anti-poverty policy; historical poverty trends.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Historical Poverty Threshold Comparison, 1967–2012
Figure 2
Figure 2
Official vs Historical Supplemental Overall Poverty Rates, 1967–2012
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage Point Impact of Transfers Under OPM and Historical SPM, 1967–2012
Figure 4a
Figure 4a
Overall Poverty, with and without SPM and Total Transfers, 1967–2012
Figure 4b
Figure 4b
Overall Deep Poverty, with and without SPM and Total Transfers, 1967–2012
Figure 5
Figure 5
Child Poverty Trends, 1967–2012
Figure 6a
Figure 6a
Child Poverty, with and without SPM and Total Transfers, 1967–2012
Figure 6b
Figure 6b
Child Deep Poverty, with and without SPM and Total Transfers, 1967–2012
Figure 7
Figure 7
Individual Impact of EITC and Welfare on Child Poverty and Child Deep Poverty, 1967–2012
Figure 8
Figure 8
Elderly Poverty, 1967–2012
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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