The Social Security Administration (SSA) began publishing poverty statistics in the early 1960s, using a poverty measure developed by staff economist Mollie Orshansky (1963, 1965a). This measure had a set of poverty thresholds for different types of families that consisted of the cost of a minimum adequate diet multiplied by three to allow for other expenses. The threshold value for the base year 1963 for a family of two adults and two children was about $3,100. To determine a family’s poverty status, its resources, we defined as before-tax money income, were compared with the appropriate threshold.

Contents [<1.0 MB]

Preface [<1.0 MB]

Summary and Recommendations [<1.0 MB]

Acknowledgements [<1.0 MB]

Chapters

Chapter 1. Introduction and Overview [<1.0 MB]

Chapter 2. Poverty Thresholds [<1.0 MB]

Chapter 3. Adjusting Poverty Thresholds [<1.0 MB]

Chapter 4. Defining Resources [<1.0 MB]

Chapter 5. Effects of the Proposed Poverty Measure [<1.0 MB]

Chapter 6. Other Issues in Measuring Poverty [<1.0 MB]

Chapter 7. Use of the Poverty Measure in Government Assistance Progams [<1.0 MB]

Chapter 8. The Poverty Measure and AFDC [<1.0 MB]

Appendices

Appendix A. Dissent [<1.0 MB]

Appendix B. Data Sources for Measuring Poverty [<1.0 MB]

Appendix C. The Interdependence of Time and Money [<1.0 MB]

Appendix D. Assistance Programs for People with Low Incomes [<1.0 MB]

References and Bibliography [<1.0 MB]

Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff [<1.0 MB]

Index [<1.0 MB]

Related Information

PUBLICATION

Supplemental Poverty Measure Publications

Page Last Revised - October 8, 2021

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