Vulnerable Elderly Households: Expenditures on Necessities by Older Americans

Objective. This empirical study compares expenditures on necessities by older Americans for different income categories. Methods. Cross-sectional data utilized in this project are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey interview tapes for 1989-90. A two-stage least squa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science quarterly 1995-09, Vol.76 (3), p.619-633
Main Authors: Koelln, Kenneth, Rubin, Rose M., Picard, Marion Smith
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aging
Cash
Consumer spending
Consumption
Dissaving
Elderly
Elderly people
Electronics benefit transfer
Expenditure
Expenditures
Food
Health care
Household budgets
Household expenditure
Households
Housing
Income
Income level
Low income
Low income groups
Necessity
Of General Interest
Older adults
Older people
Poverty
Quality of life
U.S.A
United States
USA
Welfare
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Summary:Objective. This empirical study compares expenditures on necessities by older Americans for different income categories. Methods. Cross-sectional data utilized in this project are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey interview tapes for 1989-90. A two-stage least squares regression model is used to analyze patterns of expenditure on necessities (food, housing, and medical care) by elderly households. Results. Poor elderly households are found to spend three-fourths of total expenditures on housing, food, and health care. Analysis indicates a sharp contrast between the poor receiving financial assistance and nonrecipients. Welfare recipients spend more on housing and less on food and health care than nonrecipients. Nonrecipients appear to dissave at unsustainable rates, which makes them the most vulnerable households. Conclusions. The findings indicate that a policy extending food stamps and financial assistance (which includes Medicaid eligibility) to poor and lowincome elderly households would greatly increase their expenditures on housing and nonnecessities and decrease their expenditures on food and health care. Policy changes in transfer programs designed to cover more elderly households less comprehensively would reduce the differences between welfare recipients and poor nonrecipients.
ISSN:0038-4941
1540-6237