Throwing Money at the Poverty Problem Only Works To a Point
“A couple of weeks ago the Council of Economic Advisers released a reportrecommending tougher work requirements in the nation’s public assistance programs. Midway through the report, readers encountered a startling chart that tracked poverty since the late 1950s. One line in the chart traced the official poverty rate, which fell steeply between 1959 and 1973. Since then we’ve seen fluctuations in poverty, but the long-term trend unmistakably pushed the poverty rate up from its low point in the‘70s. The surprising line in the chart showed the trend in poverty when it is measured based on family consumption rather than family income. In contrast to the official poverty rate, the consumption poverty rate has fallen steadily over the past several decades. It dropped almost 10 percentage points after 1980, falling to just 3.3 percent in 2016.”