Since the 1960s, when the poverty concept was introduced, there has been tremendous growth both in the value of benefits from in-kind programs and in fixed expenses.įinally, the CPI, as opposed to an index based on the price of food, is used to update poverty thresholds.
#Wic meaning free
Second, measures of family income do not account for in-kind benefits such as food stamps, free or reduced-price school meals under the child nutrition programs, donated USDA commodity food, Medicaid, and public housing subsidies, nor do they consider fixed expenses, such as child care and child support, taxes, housing, and medical expenses. First, current poverty thresholds are based on 1955 food consumption and expenditure patterns and do not reflect the resources required for a minimally adequate standard of living today. However, such measures rarely have been considered official measures of poverty.Ī second and more common criticism of official poverty statistics focuses on the specific components used to construct the poverty thresholds (Lewit, 1993 NRC, 1995 Ruggles, 1990). Alternative poverty measures include both relative and subjective measures and may better reflect current living and consumption standards (Ruggles, 1990). The first type of criticism is conceptual and questions whether absolute measures of poverty truly reflect what is meant by being poor in U.S.
Over time, several criticisms of official poverty statistics have emerged, each with different implications for estimating the prevalence of poverty. Official poverty thresholds are derived by using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to update this measure annually. This approach was based on analysis of the 1955 Household Food Consumption Survey, which showed that food consumption represents one-third of family income (Orshansky, 1963, 1965). Department of Agriculture (USDA) for families of different sizes and compositions and then multiplying the cost by a factor of three.
The poverty measure was initially constructed by determining the cost of a nutritionally adequate low-cost food plan (then the Economy Food Plan, now the Thrifty Food Plan) designed by the U.S. Families and individuals are classified as being in poverty if their incomes are less than official poverty thresholds. Poverty standards are generally called absolute measures and are based on the assumption that there is some objective minimum level of either income or consumption such that if economic resources are less than this minimum standard, individuals and families do not have adequate resources to satisfy their basic needs (Ruggles, 1990). A recent expert panel defined poverty as ''economic deprivation," reflecting inadequate economic resources for the consumption of basic goods and services (NRC, 1995).
#Wic meaning how to
Considerable controversy exists over how to define and measure poverty.
0 kommentar(er)
