Full Citation

Title: Evaluating the Success of the War on Poverty Since 1963 Using an Absolute Full-Income Poverty Measure

Citation Type: Journal Article

Forthcoming?: Yes

ISBN:

ISSN: 0022-3808

DOI: 10.1086/725705

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: We evaluate progress in the War on Poverty as President Johnson defined it, which established a 20 percent baseline poverty rate and adopted an absolute standard. While the official poverty rate fell from 19.5 percent in 1963 to 10.5 percent in 2019, our absolute Full-income Poverty Measure, which uses a fuller income measure and updates thresholds only for inflation, fell from 19.5 to 1.6 percent. However, we also show that relative poverty reductions have been modest. Additionally, government dependence increased over this time, with the share of working-age adults receiving under half their income from market sources more than doubling.

Url: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/725705

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Burkhauser, Richard V.; Corinth, Kevin; Elwell, James; Larrimore, Jeff

Periodical (Full): Journal of Political Economy

Issue:

Volume:

Pages: 1-99

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Population Data Science, Poverty and Welfare

Countries: