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The use and misuse of income data and extreme poverty in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Bruce D. Meyer

    (American Enterprise Institute)

  • Derek Wu
  • Victoria R. Mooers
  • Carla Medalia

Abstract

More than half of all misclassified households have incomes from the administrative data above the poverty line, and several of the largest misclassified groups appear to be at least middle class based on measures of material well-being. In contrast, the households kept from extreme poverty by in-kind transfers appear to be among the most materially deprived Americans.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruce D. Meyer & Derek Wu & Victoria R. Mooers & Carla Medalia, 2019. "The use and misuse of income data and extreme poverty in the United States," AEI Economics Working Papers 1018925, American Enterprise Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:aei:rpaper:1018925
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    Cited by:

    1. John Iceland & Jaehoon Cho, 2025. "Household living arrangements and disparities in hardship," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 52(20), pages 589-634.
    2. Erin D Caswell & Summer D Hartley & Caroline P Groth & Mary Christensen & Ruchi Bhandari, 2024. "Socioeconomic deprivation and suicide in Appalachia: The use of three socioeconomic deprivation indices to explain county-level suicide rates," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(11), pages 1-15, November.
    3. Theloudis, Alexandros, 2021. "Consumption inequality across heterogeneous families," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    4. Jeehoon Han & Bruce D. Meyer & James X. Sullivan, 2020. "Income and Poverty in the COVID-19 Pandemic," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 51(2 (Summer), pages 85-118.
    5. Jeff Larrimore & Jake Mortenson & David Splinter, 2020. "Presence and Persistence of Poverty in US Tax Data," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 383-409, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. James X. Sullivan, 2020. "A Cautionary Tale of Using Data From the Tail," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2361-2368, December.
    7. Aliprantis, Dionissi & Carroll, Daniel R. & Young, Eric R., 2024. "What explains neighborhood sorting by income and race?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    8. Gaetano Basso & Giovanni Peri, 2020. "Internal Mobility: The Greater Responsiveness of Foreign-Born to Economic Conditions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 77-98, Summer.
    9. James X. Sullivan, 2020. "Another Plea for Caution When Using Survey Income Data From the Far-Left Tail," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2377-2381, December.
    10. Meyer, Bruce D. & Mittag, Nikolas, 2021. "An empirical total survey error decomposition using data combination," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 224(2), pages 286-305.
    11. Yixia Cai & Timothy Smeeding, 2019. "Deep and Extreme Child Poverty in Rich and Poor Nations: Lessons from Atkinson for the Fight Against Child Poverty," LIS Working papers 780, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    12. Dean Jolliffe & Juan Margitic & Martin Ravallion & Laura Tiehen, 2024. "Food stamps and America's poorest," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(4), pages 1380-1409, August.
    13. Hang Kim & Martin Rotemberg & T. Kirk White, 2025. "Manufacturing Dispersion: How Data Cleaning Choices Affect Measured Misallocation and Productivity Growth in the Annual Survey of Manufactures," Working Papers 25-67, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    14. John Iceland & Claire Kovach & John Creamer, 2021. "Poverty and the Incidence of Material Hardship, Revisited," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(1), pages 585-617, January.
    15. David Brady & Zachary Parolin, 2020. "Further Analyses Reinforce Our Conclusions About Extreme Poverty," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2369-2376, December.
    16. Yixia Cai & Timothy Smeeding, 2020. "Deep and Extreme Child Poverty in Rich and Poor Nations: Lessons from Atkinson for the Fight Against Child Poverty," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 6(1), pages 109-128, March.
    17. Vincent A. Fusaro & David Seith, 2024. "When Cash Safety Nets Fade: SNAP-Participating Households with Children Without Cash Income," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 470-483, June.

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    JEL classification:

    • A - General Economics and Teaching

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