[PEN-L:6784] Re: Poverty query

[albelda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

An excellent discussion of the US's poverty measure and alternative measures
see Constance Citro and Robert Michael, editors _Measuring Poverty: A New
Approach_  (Nat'l Academy Press, 1995) it is the report from a panel set up
through the National  Acadamy of Science to examine the current measure and
propose a new one.

the current measure is based on a 1955 budget study of all families, which
found that 1/3 of income was spent on food.  The food budget for a destitute
family (also from 1955) was used to calculate the 1965 measure of $3,000 for a
family of 4 (food budget x 3) and has been indexed to inflation since.  In
1965, the poverty income threshold was 50% of the median income for a family of
four.

Randy Albelda