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.

Poverty & Policy Links, 4-6-12

A new measure of poverty has been developed.  Here's the story behind the new measure of poverty that's being rolled out and some background on how the calculations in the article were made.  The Economist agrees that the new measure is an improvement.

PBS reports on Dan Ariely's study of American opinions on wealth inequality in which Americans consistently underrated the amount of inequality in our country.  And here's Timothy Noah's essay on "why everyone overestimates American equality of opportunity".  Meanwhile, a recent analysis finds that the only major difference in mobility between the US and other developed nations is that fewer lower-income people become middle-income.

A new investigation of government programs finds that many people who oppose welfare and consider themselves self-sufficient Middle Class Americans accept a wide range of government aid.  Indeed, only 32% of entitlement benefits go to families in the bottom quintile of the income distribution.

Social entrepreneur David Bornstein writes that anti-poverty programs should focus on developing people's capabilities and other "soft" skills rather than measures of "well-being".  Here are some examples of these types of programs.

Mixed-income housing is being implemented with mixed success in Pittsburgh.


Nick Kristof writes about the impact of "toxic stress" on students

Here's the story of a young, white, homeless couple who defy stereotypes

Here's The Daily Show's take on recent rhetoric surrounding poverty

Occupy Wall Street

In case you've had your head in the sand the past couple weeks, the "Occupy Wall Street" movement is the new media sensation.

CNN compares the Occupy Wall Street movement to the Tea Party movement.  So does Jon Stewart.  And, writing for the Washington Post, David Meyer argues that the movement learned a lot from the Tea Party.

On many levels, the comparison makes sense.  Read the beginning lyrics to this newly popular anthem and try to decide for which movement it was written:

Pay no attention to the people in the street,
Crying out for accountability.
Make a joke of what we believe;
Say we don't matter 'cuz you disagree.
Pretend you're kings, sit on your throne;
Look down your noses at the peasants below.



Here's the back story on the song

Who are the Protesters?

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) first expressed his concern about the "growing mobs" of OWS protesters, but later expressed some empathy, saying that "people are upset and they're justifiably frustrated."

Though unpopular in many places, most New York residents approve of the protesters.  Writing for the NY Times, Nick Kristof compares the OWS folks to those who protested in Egypt.


But, counter to conventional wisdom, Nate Silver points out that protests had larger turnouts in the West than in the East, and argues that the movement is much more popular in places with lots of self-identified liberals than registered Democrats.


The NY Times asked bankers privately what they thought of the protests, and the reaction wasn't too kind.

“Most people view it as a ragtag group looking for sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll,” said one top hedge fund manager. “It’s not a middle-class uprising,” adds another veteran bank executive. “It’s fringe groups. It’s people who have the time to do this.”

What do They Want?

Many protesters cite economic inequality and disproportionate accrual of wealth by the top 1%: the upstart website New Bottom Line has the simple tagline "fighting for an economy that works for all of us".  Business Insider posts four charts that might explain the movement, which focus on the fortunes of corporations and the wealthiest Americans relative to the country as a whole.

Here's an updated version of the chart that we discussed in class, which displays the median income of each quintile plus the top 5% from 1966-2010 in addition to the median income of the top 1%, 0.1% and .001% from 1966-2008.  From 1966-1979, all grew relatively equally (between 6 and 25% total), while from 1980-2008, growth ranged from 0% for the bottom quintile to 641% for the top .001%.

Sources: Current Population Survey posted by the U.S. Census Bureau and IRS calculations posted by Emmanuel Saez

What will Happen?

Nobody's quite sure whether the protests will strengthen or fizzle out or whether they'll bring about any policy changes.  Indeed, many of the protesters seem rather unsure exactly what type of policy changes they want.

Robert Samuelson says that while "inequality is a new fault line . . . the backlash against the rich is the start of debate, not the end".

David Brooks seems unimpressed. He writes that "The Occupy Wall Street movement may look radical, but its members’ ideas are less radical than those you might hear at your average Rotary Club" and refers to them as "small thinkers"

Don’t be fooled by the clichés of protest movements past. The most radical people today are the ones that look the most boring. It’s not about declaring war on some nefarious elite. It’s about changing behavior from top to bottom.

The Ryan Debt Plan

here are the basics

the plan has drawn praise from The Economist, but scorn from liberal commentators

Krugman thinks the projected unemployment rate is absurd (even more)

Before it was released, Dionne wondered if Obama would stand up for the poor, and now Krugman wonders the same thing

Conservative reaction is more more muted, perhaps because the plan could be risky for Republicans

Obama will address the issue this week, but nobody's quite sure what he'll say

More Poverty Policy Links

This magazine issue includes articles about: physiological stress and the achievement-income gap, poverty and childhood development, and some policies that can combat these problems

Here's the article we discussed in class on Wednesday on the distribution of wealth in the US (it's quite short)

A NYT debate: should we care about rising wealth inequality?

A lot of millionaires don't feel all that rich

Unlike federal income taxes, lower-income workers pay a higher percentage of their income to state taxes than do higher-income workers.  Tennessee has one of the highest ratios.

Paul Krugman writes that we seem to have forgotten about the unemployed in our current political battles

here's a long essay on which kinds of income inequality might matter and which kinds might not

here are a whole bunch of charts on poverty and inequality: some are useful and some are not

here's an interactive graph that explores changes in income inequality over time

Interactive Activities

First, look at this interactive graphic on class mobility in the United States.  To get an estimate of wealth, you can estimate your family's home value here


Then, do this simulation -- it's a bit on the melodramatic side, but will help you think through some of the daily decisions confronted by the working poor: http://playspent.org/

Poverty Policy Links

Over the past 30 years, men have become more likely to earn low wages while women have become less likely

Here's some background (and part 2) on an experiment to pay the poor for certain behaviors ("conditional cash transfers") that had some success in Brazil and Mexico.

Here's an interesting graphic displaying the minimum wage versus the poverty level

Does failing to provide a child with breakfast make a parent negligent?

The US doesn't do very well on some measures of equality and prosperity and, by some measures, may have among the lowest income mobility of any advanced nation, though this differs by race, despite the fact that Americans believe we're among the highest and most equal

More Poverty Policy Links

-The Economist asks "Who's Rich?"  The middle three quartiles of household income (20th-80th percentiles) ranges from $20,000 to $100,000.  The health care bill focuses taxes on individuals earning over $200,000 per year and households earning over $250,000 per year.  The 95th percentile for individual income is $180,000 . . . meaning these taxes will impact very few Americans.

-Social Security was projected to begin taking in less money that it spends in 2016, but it appears it will instead do that this year -- largely because of the recession.  Not to fear, though, because of the large trust fund it's built up by running a surplus for the past few decades, the latest projection is that Social Security won't actually run out of money until 2037.

-The University of Cincinnati has housing specifically for first generation college students (the Gen-1 house) . . . largely b/c first generation students are four times as likely to drop out as other students . . . nationally, 89% of low-income first generation students fail to graduate in six years.

-Most importantly, as of 7pm Eastern, the Pirates are in first place in the NL Central.

Poverty Policy Links

Reading for Tomorrow:

-NYC pays poor for good conduct, with mixed results

-Is Chicago's 'Transformed' Cabrini-Green 'Too Good for Poor People'?

-His Dream: A Las Vegas without Public Housing
(you can skim the first half and start reading under the "What Can Be Done?" sub-heading)


Other Interesting Links:

-MSNBC and the NYTimes both profile the rise and fall of public housing in Atlanta -- which was the first city to open a major public housing development and now is the first to get rid of all of them.


-Underscoring the problems with measurement of poverty, NYC has seen poverty increase under a new, better, measure they're testing out while it fell under the official measure.

-One city in Utah has closed their homeless shelter, hoping to stop the influx of homeless people into their town.  Instead, they'll offer subsidized housing that requires a down payment.

Poverty Policy Links

Nicholas Kristof writes that we're making progress in figuring out what will alleviate poverty.  The answer?  Jobs and education.

Lawrence Mead writes that the employment levels of poor men continues to decline and suggests that we use the criminal justice to force the 1.5 million men on probation or in arrears on their child support to work or go to jail.

Here's a review of William Julius Wilson's new book.

A brief look back at the life of Michael Harrington and the ways in which he influenced poverty policy

A rebuttal to the writings of Charles Murray, and other Libertarians, on poverty

Evictions are surprisingly common among the poor

Paul Krugman says recent research shows that "poverty is poison"

Alex Kotlowitz details how Cleveland has dealt with with their spate of foreclosures

He also details how Chicago's public housing system has failed (as of 2002)