IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/isu/genstf/2001010108000018188.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The impact of human capital and income supports in alleviating material hardships among low-income households

Author

Listed:
  • Wessman, Cory Robert

Abstract

This paper examines the differences in material hardships that exist among low-income households. The analysis draws on evidence from a recent survey of Iowa's Food Stamp households. The approach to measuring material hardships does not rely on income or other means testing, but on survey questions that quantify the degree of household material hardship. Three indexed measures of material hardship assess different aspects of hardship: food security, housing insecurity and economic insecurity. To understand the causes of material hardship, these indexes are used as dependent variables in ordinary least-squares regressions with three sets of explanatory variables: demographic variables, asset variables, and resource constraint/human capital variables. In this way, it is possible to determine how current demographic, asset, and resource constraint/human capital characteristics affect levels of well-being. The analysis reveals that the intuitively plausible relationships hold: levels of human capital, assets, and other resources are inversely related to levels of material hardship, although many of these variables are not statistically significant. In contrast, one demographic variable, being female, is shown to be a significant indicator of the prevalence of material hardships in a household. The results are shown to be useful in understanding the reasons for why different types of low-income households face different kinds of material hardships.

Suggested Citation

  • Wessman, Cory Robert, 2001. "The impact of human capital and income supports in alleviating material hardships among low-income households," ISU General Staff Papers 2001010108000018188, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:2001010108000018188
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/7a124a81-6260-4fbc-ae80-b9f76e5bef5a/content
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. Mauldon, "undated". "Predicting hunger and overcrowding: How much difference does income make?," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1114-96, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
    2. Jensen, Helen H. & Keng, Shao-Hsun & Garasky, Steven, 2000. "Location and the Low Income Experience: Analyses of Program Dynamics in the Iowa Family Investment Program," Staff General Research Papers Archive 1867, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Nelson, Julie A, 1988. "Household Economies of Scale in Consumption: Theory and Evidence," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(6), pages 1301-1314, November.
    4. Sen, Amartya K, 1976. "Poverty: An Ordinal Approach to Measurement," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(2), pages 219-231, March.
    5. Rose, Donald & Gunderson, Craig & Oliveira, Victor, 1998. "Socio-Economic Determinants of Food Insecurity in the United States: Evidence from the SIPP and CSFII Datasets," Technical Bulletins 184377, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Susan E. Mayer & Christopher Jencks, 1989. "Poverty and the Distribution of Material Hardship," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 24(1), pages 88-114.
    7. Lazear, Edward P & Michael, Robert T, 1980. "Family Size and the Distribution of Real Per Capita Income," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(1), pages 91-107, March.
    8. Rose, Donald & Gundersen, Craig & Oliveira, Victor, 1998. "Socio-Economic Determinants of Food Insecurity in the United States: Evidence from the SIPP and CSFII Datasets," Technical Bulletins 156812, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ye, Yuxiang & Koch, Steven F., 2021. "Measuring energy poverty in South Africa based on household required energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Craig Gundersen & Victor Oliveira, 2001. "The Food Stamp Program and Food Insufficiency," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(4), pages 875-887.
    3. Huffman, Sonya Kostova & Jensen, Helen H., 2003. "Do Food Assistance Programs Improve Household Food Security?: Recent Evidence From The United States," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22219, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    4. Martin, Molly A. & Lippert, Adam M., 2012. "Feeding her children, but risking her health: The intersection of gender, household food insecurity and obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(11), pages 1754-1764.
    5. Thaiyoong Penny Mok & Gillis Maclean & Paul Dalziel, 2013. "Alternative Poverty Lines for Malaysia," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 85-104, March.
    6. Ranney, Christine K. & Gomez, Miguel I., 2010. "Food Stamps, Food Insufficiency and Health of the Elderly," Working Papers 126968, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    7. Barrett Lee & Adam Lippert, 2021. "Food insecurity among homeless and precariously housed children in the United States: Lessons from the past," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(37), pages 1115-1148.
    8. Chandana Maitra & Sriram Shankar & D.S. Prasada Rao, 2016. "Income Poor or Calorie Poor? Who should get the Subsidy?," Discussion Papers Series 564, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    9. Yunhee Chang & Swarn Chatterjee & Jinhee Kim, 2014. "Household Finance and Food Insecurity," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 499-515, December.
    10. Karbasi, A. & Mohammadzadeh, S.H., 2018. "Estimating Household Expenditure Economies of Scale in Iran," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277152, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde & Dirk Krueger, 2002. "Consumption over the Life Cycle: Some Facts from Consumer Expenditure Survey Data," Centro de Alti­simos Estudios Ri­os Pe©rez(CAERP) 7, Centro de Altisimos Estudios Rios Perez (CAERP).
    12. Janet Currie, 2003. "US Food and Nutrition Programs," NBER Chapters, in: Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, pages 199-290, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Baorong Guo, 2011. "Household Assets and Food Security: Evidence from the Survey of Program Dynamics," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 98-110, March.
    14. repec:qld:uq2004:508 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Olivier Bargain & Olivier Donni & Prudence Kwenda, 2011. "Intrahousehold Distribution and Child Poverty: Theory and Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire," Working Papers 2011-031, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    16. Jesus Fernández-Villaverde & Dirk Krueger, 2007. "Consumption over the Life Cycle: Facts from Consumer Expenditure Survey Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 552-565, August.
    17. Richard A. DePolt & Robert A. Moffitt & David C. Ribar, 2009. "Food Stamps, Temporary Assistance For Needy Families And Food Hardships In Three American Cities," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(4), pages 445-473, October.
    18. Perali, Federico, 2008. "The second Engel law: Is it a paradox?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(8), pages 1353-1377, November.
    19. Sonya Kostova Huffman & Helen H. Jensen, 2008. "Food Assistance Programs and Outcomes in the Context of Welfare Reform," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 89(1), pages 95-115, March.
    20. Devajyoti Deka, 2014. "The Living, Moving and Travel Behaviour of the Growing American Solo: Implications for Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(4), pages 634-654, March.
    21. Maria Emma Santos, 2014. "Measuring Multidimensional Poverty in Latin America: Previous Experience and the Way Forward," OPHI Working Papers 66, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:2001010108000018188. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Curtis Balmer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiasus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.