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November 30, 2023

Evaluating the Success of the War on Poverty Since 1963 Using an Absolute Full-Income Poverty Measure

Abstract We evaluate progress in the War on Poverty as President Lyndon B. Johnson defined it, which established a 20% baseline poverty rate and adopted an absolute standard. While the…

November 30, 2023

A Valuable New Perspective on America’s War on Poverty

…an Absolute Full-Income Poverty Measure” by Richard V. Burkhauser (Cornell University), Kevin Corinth (University of Chicago), James Elwell (Joint Committee on Taxation), and Jeff Larrimore (Federal Reserve Board). They try…

November 30, 2023

Evaluating the Success of the War on Poverty since 1963 Using an Absolute Full-Income Poverty Measure

Abstract We evaluate progress in the War on Poverty as President Lyndon B. Johnson defined it, which established a 20% baseline poverty rate and adopted an absolute standard. While the…

November 21, 2023

Defining Poverty Up

…the OPM. Even worse, as my AEI colleague Kevin Corinth has shown, the SPM’s poverty guideline would grow rapidly over time, defining more American families as “in poverty” each passing year:…

October 30, 2023

The Effect of Elevating the Supplemental Poverty Measure on Government Program Eligibility and Spending

Abstract A recent National Academy of Sciences report recommends elevating the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) to the “nation’s headline poverty statistic.” I project how making the SPM the official poverty…

October 24, 2023

Testimony: The Consequences of Redrawing the Poverty Line

Kevin Corinth, and I am a Senior Fellow and the Deputy Director of the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility at the American Enterprise Institute. This testimony reflects my personal…

October 17, 2023

Understanding Poverty Measurement

…Burkhauser then discussed the history of poverty measurement, the weaknesses of the official poverty measure, and what an improved measure indicates about our success in reducing poverty. Next, Kevin Corinth

October 11, 2023

CHANGING THE OFFICIAL POVERTY MEASURE WOULD HELP RICH STATES AND HURT POOR STATES

Earlier this year, a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report recommended elevating the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) to the “nation’s headline poverty statistic,” and noted that the Office…

October 5, 2023

Changing the Official Poverty Measure Would Help Rich States and Hurt Poor States

In this post I discuss the policy implications of declaring the Supplemental Poverty Measure the new official measure, an action that could be taken unilaterally by the Director of the…

February 1, 2023

The Change in Poverty from 1995 to 2016 Among Single‐​Parent Families

Whether poverty has risen or fallen over time is a key barometer of societal progress. Between 1970 and 2020, the official poverty rate in the United States fell by just 1.2…