Full Citation
Title: Poverty Rates & The Receipt of Safety Net Program Benefits: The Original Poverty Measure vs. The Supplemental Poverty Measure, by Family Structure
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2014
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: This project addresses two policy questions. The first policy question seeks to address how poverty rates vary by family structure using the original poverty measure vs. the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The second policy question investigates how the receipt of four safety net program benefits (SNAP, WIC, TANF, and the EITC) affect the poverty rate using the SPM, by family structure. Background The original poverty measure was developed in 1963 (Fisher 1992). The poverty measure is an incredibly important measure, as it determines who is poor in the United States and is often used as a threshold to determining eligibility for government benefit programs. Aside from adjustments for inflation, the poverty measure has changed little since its inception (Fisher 1992). The original poverty measure has many limits and recently a new measure was created to more accurately measure poverty (Smith 2009). The new measure is called the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), and includes several enhancements to the original poverty measure. The SPM includes adjustments for geographic location, in-kind benefits such as SNAP and WIC, transportation, healthcare,childcare costs, and modern family configuration including resource sharing among unmarried partners (commonly known as cohabiting couples) (Short 2013). I investigated the anti-poverty effects of four social safety net programs SNAP, WIC, TANF, and the EITC. I looked at these programs in particular because they serve my population of interest,families with children. Data & Methodology I used data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a nationally representative survey of the non-institutionalized American population. The CPS collects detailed information on household income and structure, and is one of the preeminent sources of information on...
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Bandy, Monica
Institution: Duke University
Department: The Sanford School of Public Policy
Advisor: Christina Gibson
Degree: Master of Public Policy
Publisher Location: Durham, NC
Pages:
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Family and Marriage, Poverty and Welfare
Countries: