(Nov. 3) – Poverty data generally comes from the Census Bureau, which bases its analysis on the Current Population Survey. But do poor people under-report or underestimate the value of the programs they participate in? They might, and it seems to me it’s pretty easy to figure this out. Add up the value of, say, all SNAP reports from the CPS, and then compare it to the actual amount of SNAP money the government sends out. If it doesn’t match pretty closely, then the survey is off.
Author: Jon Aren
A tool to address poverty
(Nov. 3) – Statistics about the health and wealth of Americans hold a vexing paradox. Steady signs of improvement are regularly reported on the news. Unemployment continues to decline. Consumer confidence is generally on the rise. The housing crisis appears to have stabilized. The price of oil has given many a freedom to go and do what has been absent in recent years.
The best news in the world: we have made real progress towards ending extreme poverty
(Nov. 2) – The dramatic fall in global poverty over the past two decades is the best news in the world today. For the first time ever, the percentage of people living in extreme poverty – now defined as living on less than US$1.90 a day – is projected to fall below 10% this year, to 9.6% of the world’s population.
New Human Need Index fills a data void to help those in need
(Nov. 2) – Working together and with an advisory board of scholars, the Salvation Army and the Lilly School have created a real-time Human Needs Index drawn from service provision tracking systems maintained by more than 7,000 Salvation Army sites nationwide. The index provides useful insight into consumption of an array of emergency services (e.g., food, shelter, clothing) at a given place and point in time across the entire country.
The US needs to redefine poverty
(Nov. 2) – The recent campaigns to push for an increase in minimum wage rates across the United States have attracted much media coverage. The state of New York is making moves to approve a $15 per hour floor, joining Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. There is growing support for ensuring minimal income levels to promote equitable living standards. Less attention has been paid, however, to the capricious relationship minimum wage policy has with inflation. The U.S. is unique among developed nations in maintaining an inadequately low federal poverty rate and failing to accommodate increases in the cost of living.
What Does Poverty Look Like? A Photo Contest Has Surprising Answers
(Nov. 1) – You might expect a photo contest about poverty to be depressing. But it’s not. And if you’re a skeptic, all you need to do is look at entries in the annual contest about poverty that’s been run by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) for the past 10 years.
Looking Back at the War on Poverty: A Conversation with Sheldon Danziger
(Oct. 29) – In some political circles, it is automatically assumed that the War on Poverty was a failure. At the National Urban League conference in July of 2015, former governor of Florida and presidential candidate Jeb Bush described the War on Poverty as a “decades-long effort [that] while well intentioned, has been a losing one. And the casualties can be counted in the millions who never had the chance at work and whose families fell victim to drugs, violence, and the crushing of the spirit.”
America’s Urgent Need to Tackle Child Poverty, in 3 Charts
(Oct. 29) – Growing up poor has wide-ranging negative effects. Depending on where they live, America’s poor children are less likely to have access to good public schools and less likely to earn higher wages later in life. In children, poverty is also linked to slower brain development (which further worsens academic performance) and health problems, such as asthma and obesity.
We’ve Been Measuring Poverty All Wrong
(Oct. 29) – According to an economic study released this month, poverty-reducing programs such as food stamps and housing vouchers are almost twice as effective as originally estimated. Using government administrative records for the state of New York, University of Chicago economist Bruce Meyer and CERGE-EI’s Nikolas Mittag were able to test the accuracy of the Current Population Survey’s (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC).
One Man’s Stark Photo Collection Reveals The ‘Geography Of Poverty’ In America
(Oct. 27) – It’s a concept as simple as it is harrowing: put poverty-stricken U.S. towns where everyone can see them. Through a series of black-and-white images, captured in sharp detail what numbers and statistics cannot, the embodied realness of a place, as it appears to those who live there.