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Did We Lose the War on Poverty?

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Author Info
Jorgenson, Dale W
Abstract

Official U.S. poverty statistics based on household income imply that the proportion of the U.S. population below the poverty level reached a minimum in 1973, giving rise to the widespread impression that the elimination of poverty is impossible. By contrast, poverty estimates based on household consumption have fallen through 1989 and imply that the war on poverty was a success. This paper recommends replacing income by consumption in official estimates of poverty in order to obtain a more accurate assessment of the impact of income support programs and economic growth on the level and distribution of economic well-being among households. Copyright 1998 by American Economic Association.

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Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Volume (Year): 12 (1998)
Issue (Month): 1 (Winter)
Pages: 79-96
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Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:12:y:1998:i:1:p:79-96

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Jorgenson, Dale W & Slesnick, Daniel T, 1999. "Indexing Government Programs for Changes in the Cost of Living," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 17(2), pages 170-81, April.
  2. Lewbel, Arthur, 1989. "Household equivalence scales and welfare comparisons," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 377-391, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Lundberg, Shelly & Pollak, Robert A, 1996. "Bargaining and Distribution in Marriage," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 139-58, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Browning, Martin, 1992. "Children and Household Economic Behavior," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 1434-75, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Michael Hurd & Susann Rohwedder, 2006. "Consumption and Economic Well-Being at Older Ages: Income- and Consumption-Based Poverty Measures in the HRS," Working Papers wp110, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center. [Downloadable!]
  2. Urvashi Dhawan-Biswal, 2002. "Consumption and Income Inequality: The Case of Atlantic Canada from 1969­1996," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(4), pages 513-537, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Raghbendra Jha & Bagala Biswal & Urvashi D. Biswal, 2001. "An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Public Expenditures on Education and Health on Poverty in Indian States," Working Papers 998, Queen's University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Marcia K. Meyers & Irwin Garfinkel, 1999. "Social indicators and the study of inequality," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Sep, pages 149-163. [Downloadable!]
  5. Robert H. DeFina, 2002. "The impact of unemployment on alternative poverty measures," Working Papers 02-8, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
  6. Ian Irvine & Kuan Xu, 2002. "Crime, Punishment and Poverty in the United States," Department of Economics at Dalhousie University working papers archive uspov, Dalhousie, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Michael D. Hurd & Susann Rohwedder, 2006. "Economic Well-Being at Older Ages: Income- and Consumption-Based Poverty Measures in the HRS," NBER Working Papers 12680, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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