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Improving the Supplemental Poverty Measure: Two proposals

Author

Listed:
  • John A. Bishop

    (East Carolina University, U.S.A.)

  • Jonathan Lee

    (East Carolina University, U.S.A.)

  • Lester A. Zeager

    (East Carolina University, U.S.A.)

Abstract

Questions about the adequacy of the official poverty measure led to the development of the Supplemental Poverty Measure, designed to be released concurrently with the official poverty measure. We raise two concerns with the Supplemental Poverty Measure: a discontinuity in the economies of scale implied by the equivalence scale and the adjustment for local prices using only housing costs. We propose corrections for both issues that can be applied by anyone using the public use files of the Current Population Survey. The changes we propose would have the greatest effect on poverty rates for the elderly and would reduce the difference in poverty rates by metro status.

Suggested Citation

  • John A. Bishop & Jonathan Lee & Lester A. Zeager, 2017. "Improving the Supplemental Poverty Measure: Two proposals," Working Papers 429, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    • Handle: RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq201-429
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    File URL: http://www.ecineq.org/milano/WP/ECINEQ2017-429.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Bishop & Andrew Grodner & Haiyong Liu & Ismael Ahamdanech-Zarco, 2014. "Subjective poverty equivalence scales for Euro Zone countries," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 12(2), pages 265-278, June.
    2. Bettina Aten & Eric Figueroa & Troy Martin & Trudi Renwick (Census), 2014. "Supplemental Poverty Measure: A Comparison of Geographic Adjustments with Regional Price Parities vs. Median Rents from the American Community Survey," BEA Working Papers 0111, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    3. Bruce D. Meyer & James X. Sullivan, 2012. "Identifying the Disadvantaged: Official Poverty, Consumption Poverty, and the New Supplemental Poverty Measure," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(3), pages 111-136, Summer.
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    Cited by:

    1. John A. Bishop & Jonathan M. Lee & Lester A. Zeager, 2017. "Incorporating spatial price adjustments in U.S. public policy analysis," Working Papers 438, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    2. Bishop John A. & Lee Jonathan M. & Zeager Lester A., 2018. "U.S. Income Comparisons with Regional Price Parity Adjustments," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(4), pages 1-17, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    supplemental poverty measure; equivalence scales; spatial price index.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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