Waging War on Poverty: Historical Trends in Poverty Using the Supplemental Poverty Measure

Liana Fox, Irwin Garfinkel, Neeraj Kaushal, Jane Waldfogel and Christopher Wimer

No 19789, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and the March Current Population Survey, we calculate historical poverty estimates based on the new Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) from 1967 to 2012. During this period, poverty as officially measured has stagnated. However, the official poverty measure (OPM) does not account for the effect of near-cash transfers on the financial resources available to families, an important omission since such transfers have become an increasingly important part of government anti-poverty policy. Applying the SPM, which does count such transfers, we find that historical trends in poverty have been more favorable than the OPM suggests and that government policies have played an important and growing role in reducing poverty --- a role that is not evident when the OPM is used to assess poverty. We also find that government programs have played a particularly important role in alleviating child poverty and deep poverty, especially during economic downturns.

JEL-codes: I32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-his
Note: AG CH EFG PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published as Liana Fox & Christopher Wimer & Irwin Garfinkel & Neeraj Kaushal & Jane Waldfogel, 2015. "Waging War on Poverty: Poverty Trends Using a Historical Supplemental Poverty Measure," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol 34(3), pages 567-592.

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