In this paper we present a new concept of poverty, Self-Reliant poverty, which is based on the ability of a family, using its own resources, to support a level of consumption in excess of needs. This concept closely parallels the ''capability poverty'' measure that has been proposed by Amartya Sen. We use this measure to examine the trend and composition of the Self-Reliant poor population from 1975 to 1997. We find that Self-Reliant poverty has increased more rapidly over this period than has official poverty. Families considered to be the most vulnerable-those headed by minorities, single women with children, and individuals with low levels of education-have the highest levels of Self-Reliant poverty. However, these groups have also experienced the smallest increases in poverty. Conversely, families largely thought to be economically secure-those headed by whites, married men with children, and highly educated individuals-have the lowest levels of Self-Reliant poverty, but have experienced the largest increases in poverty. We also find that the Self-Reliant poor is increasingly composed of vulnerable groups relative to the composition of the official poor. The labor market, demographic, and policy sources of the divergent trends in Self-Reliant and official poverty, and of the gender, race and family structure changes in poverty rates are explored.
The facts presented in this study and the observations and viewpoints expressed are the sole responsibility of the authors. They do not necessarily represent positions of the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
The trend in national policy over the past two decades has emphasized self reliance and a smaller role for government in society. Given this ideological shift, the Official poverty measure, which is based on the premise that all families should have sufficient income from either their own efforts or government support to boost them above a family-size-specific threshold, appears to have less policy relevance now than in prior years. In this paper we present a new concept of poverty, Self-Reliance poverty, which is based on the ability of a family, using its own resources, to support a level of consumption in excess of needs. This concept closely parallels the "capability poverty" measure that has been proposed by Sen. We use this measure to examine the size and composition of the Self-Reliant poor population from 1975 to 1995. We find that Self-Reliance poverty has increased more rapidly over the 1975-95 period than has Official poverty. We find that families commonly thought to be the most impoverished --those headed by minorities, single women with children, and individuals with low levels of education --have the highest levels of Self-Reliance poverty. However, these groups have also experienced the smallest increases in this poverty measure. Families largely thought to be economically secure, specifically those headed by whites, men, married couples, and highly educated individuals, while having the lowest levels of Self-Reliance poverty, have also experienced the largest increases in that measure. We speculate that the trends in Self-Reliance poverty stem largely from underlying trends in the United States economy, in particular the relative decline of wage rates for whites and men, and the rapidly expanding college-educated demographic group.
The facts presented in this study and the observations and viewpoints expressed are the sole responsibility of the authors. Much of the research for this manuscript was conducted while Andrew Bershadker was a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Any opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent positions of the U.S. Treasury Department or the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
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