IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joecin/v22y2024i4d10.1007_s10888-024-09625-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Missing Poor in the U.S

Author

Listed:
  • Mathieu Lefebvre

    (Aix Marseille University, CNRS, AMSE)

  • Pierre Pestieau

    (Université de Liège, CORE and PSE)

  • Gregory Ponthiere

    (UCLouvain, Hoover Chair in Economic and Social Ethics, Collège Dupriez)

Abstract

Given that poor individuals face worse survival conditions than non-poor individuals, one can expect that a steeper income gradient in mortality leads, through stronger income-based selection, to a lower poverty rate at the old age (i.e. the "missing poor" hypothesis). This paper uses U.S. state-level data on poverty at age 65+ and life expectancy by income levels to provide an empirical test of the missing poor hypothesis. Using average temperature as an instrument for mortality differentials, we show that instrumented changes in mortality differentials have a negative and statistically significant effect on old-age poverty: a 1 % increase in the mortality differential implies a 16 % decrease in the 65+ headcount poverty rate. Using those regression results, we compute hypothetical old-age poverty rates while neutralizing the impact of the income gradient in mortality, and show that correcting for heterogeneity in income-based selection effects modifies the comparison of old-age poverty prevalence across states.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathieu Lefebvre & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2024. "Missing Poor in the U.S," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(4), pages 865-891, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecin:v:22:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s10888-024-09625-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10888-024-09625-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10888-024-09625-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10888-024-09625-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty; Measurement; Income gradient in mortality; Selection biases; Comparability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joecin:v:22:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s10888-024-09625-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.