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"Time to do chores?" Factoring home-production needs into measures of poverty

Author

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  • R. A. Douthitt

Abstract

Currently, income is the only resource that the government takes into account when measuring poverty. But in order for a family to maintain an adequate standard of living, its members must not only have money, but the time to do certain kinds of work in the home: child care, food shopping, meal preparation, laundry, housecleaning, and the like. With this in mind, the author recalculates poverty rates using a method developed by Vickery (1977) in which time is factored in as a resource. She finds that poverty rates increase dramatically when time is factored in as a resource, because working parents, especially single parents, often do not have enough time to perform essential tasks. Data are from the 1985 American Time Use survey.

Suggested Citation

  • R. A. Douthitt, "undated". ""Time to do chores?" Factoring home-production needs into measures of poverty," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1030-94, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
    • Handle: RePEc:wop:wispod:1030-94
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    File URL: http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp103094.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clair Vickery, 1977. "The Time-Poor: A New Look at Poverty," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 12(1), pages 27-48.
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    Cited by:

    1. Timothy Smeeding & Karen Christopher & Paula England & Sara McLanahan & Katherin Ross Phillips, 1999. "Poverty and Parenthood across Modern Nations: Findings from the Luxembourg Income Study," LIS Working papers 194, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Lilian Lopes Ribeiro & Emerson Luis Lemos Marinho, 2015. "A new approach to poverty in Brazil: a bidimensional measurement of well-being [A new approach to poverty in Brazil: a bidimensional measurement of well-being]," Nova Economia, Economics Department, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), vol. 25(2), pages 447-464, May-Augus.
    3. Tromben, Varinia & Benvin, Evelyn & Rivera, Elizabeth, 2016. "A multidimensional time use and well-being index: a proposal for Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    4. Nazier, Hanan & Ezzat, Asmaa, 2022. "Gender differences and time allocation: A comparative analysis of Egypt and Tunisia," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 174-193.

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