Poverty and the Distribution of Material Hardship

Public concern with poverty derives in large part from the assumption that low income families cannot afford necessities. Yet official poverty statistics focus on measuring income, not on measuring material hardship. Two surveys of Chicago residents measure whether families could afford food, housin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of human resources 1989-01, Vol.24 (1), p.88-114
Main Authors: Mayer, Susan E., Jencks, Christopher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Economic hardship
Electronics benefit transfer
Errors
Families & family life
Family size
Food consumption
Hardship
Health care
Housing
Human resources
Implications
Income estimates
Patient care
Polls & surveys
Poverty
Statistical analysis
Studies
Transitory income
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Summary:Public concern with poverty derives in large part from the assumption that low income families cannot afford necessities. Yet official poverty statistics focus on measuring income, not on measuring material hardship. Two surveys of Chicago residents measure whether families could afford food, housing and medical care. A family's official income-to-needs ratio explained 24 percent of the variance in the amount of material hardship it reported. Adjustments for family size, age, health, noncash benefits, home ownership, and access to credit explain another 15 percent. Variations in permanent income explain almost none of the remaining variance in hardship. Among families with the same official income-to-needs ratio, material hardship varies by age, family size and composition.
ISSN:0022-166X
1548-8004
DOI:10.2307/145934