Poverty Rises Faster When Non-Cash Benefits Counted [electronic resource]
Poverty has risen faster in recent years under measures of poverty that include the value of non-cash benefits. The Census Bureau recently issued nine measures of poverty which make the poverty population appear unrealistically small. In summary, these measures do the following: (l) count non-cash b...
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
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[S.l.] :
Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse,
1986.
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| Summary: | Poverty has risen faster in recent years under measures of poverty that include the value of non-cash benefits. The Census Bureau recently issued nine measures of poverty which make the poverty population appear unrealistically small. In summary, these measures do the following: (l) count non-cash benefits because they include household purchasing power but fail to exclude taxes that are withheld from earnings and reduce purchasing power; (2) compare income including non-cash benefits to a poverty threshold based on cash income only; and (3) in the case of the two measures showing the lowest numbers of people in poverty, assign such high values to Medicare and Medicaid that many of the elderly poor are considered to be above the poverty line, even if they have virtually no income for other necessities. The report points out the most serious problems with current poverty measures and it analyzes the use of non-cash benefits in terms of its distorting effects on poverty indicators and thresholds. (PS) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Document Number: ED279735. |
| Physical Description: | 14 p. |