Event Summary
On June 20, AEI’s Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility convened two panels to discuss the 60th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty.
The first panel examined poverty measurement. Panelists agreed that the official poverty measure is outdated and should no longer be used by government agencies. David Johnson from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine argued that the supplemental poverty measure should be elevated to the nation’s headline poverty statistic. James Sullivan from the University of Notre Dame explained how a consumption measure better reflects material circumstances than income does. AEI’s Richard Burkhauser discussed what a full income poverty measure would entail.
The second panel focused on policies enacted during the Great Society and welfare reform and what policymakers should do going forward. Isabel V. Sawhill of the Brookings Institution advocated increasing the minimum wage and expanding the earned income tax credit to better support low-wage workers. Wendell Primus of the Brookings Institution focused on ways to reduce elderly poverty, including reforms to the Supplemental Security Income program. The Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector recalled the benefits of welfare reform and the need to eliminate marriage penalties from the safety net. Both panels concluded with a Q&A.
—Tim Sprunt
Event Description
On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared “an unconditional war on poverty” during his State of the Union address to Congress. Its objective was “not a struggle simply to support people, to make them dependent on the generosity of others,” but “an effort to allow them to develop and use their capacities.”
Was the War on Poverty successful? What policies helped advance material well-being, and how should policymakers improve the safety net going forward? Please join a distinguished group of panelists for a conversation around the legacy of the War on Poverty and how we can expand opportunity for all.
Event Materials
Agenda
10:00 a.m.
Opening Remarks:
Kevin Corinth, Deputy Director, Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility, American Enterprise Institute
10:15 a.m.
Panel I: Trends in Poverty Measurement
Panelists:
Richard Burkhauser, Nonresident Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
David Johnson, Senior Program Officer, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine
James Sullivan, Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame
Moderator:
Kevin Corinth, Deputy Director, Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility, American Enterprise Institute
11:45 a.m.
Q&A
12:00 p.m.
Lunch
12:40 p.m.
Panel II: Evaluating the “War on Poverty” and Looking Ahead
Panelists:
Wendell Primus, Visiting Fellow, Economic Studies, Center on Health Policy, Brookings Institution
Robert Rector, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Health and Welfare Policy, Heritage Foundation
Isabel V. Sawhill, Senior Fellow Emeritus, Center for Economic Security and Opportunity, Brookings Institution
Moderator:
Matt Weidinger, Rowe Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
2:10 p.m.
Q&A
2:25 p.m.
Adjournment
Related Content
Evaluating the Success of the War on Poverty Since 1963 Using an Absolute Full-Income Poverty Measure
Richard Burkhauser, Kevin Corinth, et al. | Journal of Political Economy | November 30, 2023
