Improving the Measurement of Poverty

In the early 1960s, the Johnson administration created the poverty measure as part of its War on Poverty. More than four decades later, we continue to use essentially the same measure to define poverty despite significant changes in the economy and in household budgets. The result is a measure that does not accurately reflect the level of economic need among American households. And, the measure fails to reflect the effects of many of the nation’s strongest anti-poverty programs.

In a new Hamilton Project Discussion Paper, Rebecca M. Blank of the Brookings Institution and Mark H. Greenberg of Georgetown University propose a new poverty measure that better reflects the actual economic conditions of low-income Americans, based on recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences.

On December 9, The Hamilton Project released the discussion paper and held a policy forum on the need for a new national poverty measure. Hamilton Project Advisory Council member Roger C. Altman, chairman of Evercore Partners, gave welcoming remarks and led the discussion.

Following a brief presentation of the new Hamilton Project discussion paper, Mr. Altman moderated a roundtable discussion among a panel of experts, including Douglas J. Besharov, Jacobs Scholar in Social Welfare Studies with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI); Linda I. Gibbs, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services in New York City; Nicholas Gwyn, Staff Director for the Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee of the House Ways & Means Committee; and Sharon Parrott, Director of the Welfare Reform and Income Support Division for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).