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A Modern Framework for Measuring Poverty and Basic Economic Security

Author

Listed:
  • Shawn Fremstad
Abstract
This report details how the dominant framework for understanding and measuring poverty in the United States has become a conservative one. The current U.S. approach to measuring poverty views poverty only in terms of having an extremely low level of annual income, and utilizes poverty thresholds that are adjusted only for inflation rather than for changes in overall living standards. As a result, the official poverty measure has effectively defined deprivation down over the last four decades, moving it further and further away from mainstream living standards over time, as well as from majority public opinion of the minimum amount needed to “get along” at a basic level. A new Supplemental Income Poverty Measure (SIPM) proposed by the Obama administration makes some important improvements to the current poverty measure. However, the SIPM remains a conservative approach that appears likely to lock in the poverty line at an extremely low level. This report proposes a new framework for measuring poverty and basic economic security in the United States. Instead of being limited to the “extremely-low-income-only” approach the current poverty line and administration’s proposed Supplemental Income Poverty Measure (SIPM) represent, this framework should utilize measures of low income and other forms of economic hardship related to low income.

Suggested Citation

  • Shawn Fremstad, 2010. "A Modern Framework for Measuring Poverty and Basic Economic Security," CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs 2010-12, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
    • Handle: RePEc:epo:papers:2010-12
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    File URL: http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/poverty-2010-04.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Shawn Fremstad, 2012. "Married … without Means: Poverty and Economic Hardship Among Married Americans," CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs 2012-26, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
    2. Francesco Balducci, 2021. "Mapping the invisibles: Using non-conventional point-level data to analyse residential patterns of deprived people in a mid-sized city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(8), pages 1634-1654, June.
    3. Shawn Fremstad, 2011. "Maintaining and Improving Social Security for Poorly Compensated Workers," CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs 2011-23, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    poverty; disability; poverty level; poverty measure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I - Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J - Labor and Demographic Economics
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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