What consumption can tell us about who is really poor

Published: Monday, Oct. 8 2012 7:40 a.m. MDT

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Summary

Examines the demerits of using income as a measure of poverty and alternate ways to quantify it.

Evaluating effectiveness

“We want poverty to measure who are the worst off, the most disadvantaged in society,” Sullivan said. Consumption poverty is attractive because it provides a sense of how people are actually living. Do they have food? Do they have a car or air conditioning? Have they graduated from high school? Do they have adequate housing?

Sullivan warns that using consumption as a measure to determine eligibility for government aid programs such as food stamps may create a moral hazard by encouraging people to game the system. Still, consumption is a "useful tool for evaluating the effectiveness of government programs,” he said. “It can show us if the programs are actually improving the lives of the poor."

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Utah Native

Farmington, UT

For most of us, winning the lottery isn't ever going to happen. We have a much better chance of being laid off of a job. When that happens, one would hope that government assistance would be there to help (former) tax payers through a crisis. It More..

10:37 a.m. Oct. 8, 2012
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killpack

Sandy, UT

I'll tell you who is poor. The US Treasury with $15 trillion in debt and counting. If you don't believe that, I don't know what to do for you. I say no more bailouts, no more handouts, no more food stamps, no more Social Security, no More..

11:10 a.m. Oct. 8, 2012
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sally

Kearns, UT

Years ago we were advised to apply for food stamps when my husband lost his job. Being naive, I filled out all the paperwork, only to find out our car, which had eight months left to pay on, was worth too much money on their asset list. We had More..

11:13 a.m. Oct. 8, 2012
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