More Poverty Policy Links, 4-8-12

A front page article in the NY Times today explores the reactions of states and individuals to welfare reform.  The article interviews single mothers who've come up with a wide range of solutions after their benefits have been cut off, discusses what states have done with extra money from their block grants after reducing the rolls, and asks scholars with various viewpoints whether the law has helped or hurt.  Here's some background on how the article was written and the difficulty of measuring poverty (particularly interesting is the divergence between reported income and reported spending).

Meanwhile, an econ professor at Chicago asks if welfare reform has been reversed, pointing out that increases in food stamps and unemployment benefits have made up for a good deal of the reduced spending on TANF cash aid.

One popular talking about is the "culture of poverty".  The New York Times featured a piece not too long ago exploring a resurgence of this notion, but from a different point of view.  Here's some history on how the term got started.  An article for teachers and school officials calls the old view a "myth" and suggests some ways to overcome it.

Lastly, new data indicate that more children are living in high-poverty areas -- that concentrated poverty may be increasing.