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Applying Augmented Survey Data to Produce More Accurate, Precise, and Internationally Comparable Estimates of Poverty within the 50 United States

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  • Zachary Parolin

Abstract

This paper introduces a series of augmentations to the Current Population Survey to allow for more accurate estimations of American poverty outcomes and a more fruitful integration of the U.S. into comparative research. The augmentations address three shortcomings in recent poverty research, including (1) severe measurement error in the data from which U.S. poverty estimates are most often derived, (2) the conceptualizations of poverty adopted within U.S.-centric research, and (3) the masking of substantial crossstate variation in poverty outcomes across the 50 United States. Specifically, the augmentations, made public for future researchers to apply, partially correct for the underreporting of four means-tested transfers, establish an internationally comparable conceptualization of poverty, and increase sample sizes for more-precise state-level estimates. The findings illustrate the extent to which prior studies have overestimated the incidence of poverty within the U.S. and have conceptually undervalued the immense heterogeneity of poverty outcomes across the 50 states.

Suggested Citation

  • Zachary Parolin, 2017. "Applying Augmented Survey Data to Produce More Accurate, Precise, and Internationally Comparable Estimates of Poverty within the 50 United States," Working Papers 1709, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    • Handle: RePEc:hdl:wpaper:1709
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Corak, Miles, 2005. "Principles and Practicalities for Measuring Child Poverty in the Rich Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 1579, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    11. Zachary Parolin, 2016. "The Sum of Its Parts? Assessing Variation and Trends in Family Income Support Across the 48 Contiguous United States," Working Papers 1605, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    12. Liana Fox & Irwin Garfinkel & Neeraj Kaushal & Jane Waldfogel & Christopher Wimer, 2014. "Waging War on Poverty: Historical Trends in Poverty Using the Supplemental Poverty Measure," NBER Working Papers 19789, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Zachary Parolin, 2018. "Race, Social Assistance & the Risk of Child Poverty across the 50 United States," Working Papers 1804, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    2. Zachary Parolin & Christiaan Luigjes, 2018. "Incentive to Retrench? Institutional Moral Hazard among Federal & State Social Assistance Programs after Welfare Reform," Working Papers 1802, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    3. Filauro, Stefano & Parolin, Zachary, 2018. "Income Inequality in the European Union & United States: A Comparative Decomposition," SocArXiv g4cd3, Center for Open Science.
    4. Parolin, Zachary & Brady, David, 2018. "Extreme Child Poverty and the Role of Social Policy in the United States," SocArXiv u5ecn, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    poverty; income measurement; CPS ASEC; federalism; comparative social policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy

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