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Identifying the Poorest Older Americans

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Author Info
Fisher, Johathan (Litigation Analytics)
Johnson, David (Census Bureau)
Marchand, Joseph () (University of Alberta, Department of Economics)
Smeeding, Timothy () (University of Wisconsin)
Boyle Torrey, B. (Population Reference Bureau)

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Abstract

Objectives: Public policies generally target a subset of the population defined as poor or needy, but rarely are people poor or needy in the same way. This is particularly true among older adults, as they have fewer options to compensate for financial decisions made earlier in life. This study investigates poverty among this group in order to identify who among them is financially worst off.

Methods: We use 20 years of data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey to examine the income and consumption of older Americans.

Results: The poverty rate is cut in fourth if both income and consumption are used to define poverty. Those most likely to be poor using a combined measure over both income and consumption are women, widows, blacks, and renters. The income poor alone display sufficient assets to raise consumption above poverty thresholds, while the consumption poor are shown to have income just above the poverty threshold and have few assets.

Discussion: The poorest among the older population are those who are income and consumption poor. Understanding the nature of this double poverty population is important in measuring the success of future public policies to reduce poverty among this group.

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File URL: http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/gbp022
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Alberta, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 2009-3.

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Length: 32 pages
Date of creation: 20 Jan 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ris:albaec:2009_003

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Related research
Keywords: poverty; consumption; income;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped

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This page was last updated on 2009-11-26.

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