Full Citation

Title: Advancing Poverty Measurement and Policy: Evidence from Wisconsin during the Great Recession

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2012

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Abstract: This paper estimates poverty trends in Wisconsin between 2008 and 2010, for the overall population and for children and the elderly, using an alternative poverty measure similar to the federally implemented Supplemental Poverty Measure, but customized to better reflect the placespecific needs and resources of Wisconsin. Unlike the official poverty measure, our alternative measurement (the Wisconsin Poverty Measure or WPM) considers tax credits and noncash benefits, and adjusts for work-related and medical-care expenses as well as for relative living costs, statewide and across sub-state regions. Using data from the American Community Survey and Wisconsin administrative records, the WPM shows essentially no change in state poverty rates between 2008 and 2009 and a decline between 2009 and 2010, from 11.1 percent to 10.3 percent, although state poverty levels calculated via the official measure continued to increase between 2008 and 2010. We discuss the policy implications of these results.

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Authors: Chung, Yiyoon; Isaacs, Julia, B; Smeeding, Timothy, M

Conference Name: APPAM Fall Research Conference

Publisher Location: Baltimore, MD

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Poverty and Welfare

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