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Monitoring multidimensional poverty in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Sophie Mitra

    (Fordham University)

  • Debra Brucker

    (University of New Hampshire)

Abstract

On the international stage, poverty is increasingly understood multi-dimensionally as a deprivation of wellbeing in several dimensions rather than solely as a lack of income or low consumption. In the U.S., recent research shows that many people who are not counted as poor under the official or supplemental measures of income poverty experience multidimensional poverty. Yet there is no monitoring of multidimensional poverty. This paper examines trends in multidimensional poverty in the U.S. since 2013 using a measure that includes deprivations in family income, self-reported health status, educational attainment, employment status, and health insurance coverage. Using Current Population Survey data for years 2013 to 2017, the percentage of the total population experiencing multidimensional poverty decreased significantly each year, from 13.8% in 2013 to 10.0% in 2017. However, between 2016 and 2017, the extent of the decline in multidimensional poverty was smaller than in earlier years and became less widely shared across population groups. Increased deprivations in health insurance explain this more limited decline in multidimensional poverty in 2017.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophie Mitra & Debra Brucker, 2019. "Monitoring multidimensional poverty in the United States," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(2), pages 1272-1293.
  • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-19-00128
    as

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    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2019/Volume39/EB-19-V39-I2-P122.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

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    2. Vladimir Menshikov & Irena Kokina & Vera Komarova & Oksana Ruža & Alina Danileviča, 2020. "Measuring multidimensional poverty within the resource-based approach: a case study of Latgale region, Latvia," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 8(2), pages 1211-1227, December.
    3. Shatakshee Dhongde & Brian Glassman, 2023. "Multidimensional Hardships in the U.S. During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 883-905, October.
    4. Shatakshee Dhongde, 2020. "Multidimensional economic deprivation during the coronavirus pandemic: Early evidence from the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Netta Achdut & Lea Achdut, 2022. "Joint Income-Wealth Poverty in a Cross-National Perspective: The Role of Country-Level Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 499-541, November.
    6. Shatakshee Dhongde & Robert Haveman, 2022. "Spatial and Temporal Trends in Multidimensional Poverty in the United States over the Last Decade," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 447-472, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    multidimensional poverty; multidimensional deprivations; multiple deprivations; poverty; United States.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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