Federal and Local Efforts to Modernize the Poverty Measure
January 11, 2010
The current poverty measure is based on a methodology developed in the 1960s and now widely recognized as outdated. However, efforts to develop a modern poverty measure that reflects current spending patterns, geographic differences in the cost of living, and government tax and benefit policies are underway.
The National Center for Children in Poverty hosted a webinar on modernizing the poverty measure that covered the following topics:
- Current poverty measure and its flaws
- Alternative measures and their impact
- Measuring American Poverty Act of 2009 and key issues under debate
- Implications of a revised measure on current poverty rates
- New York City’s Center for Economic Opportunity poverty measure
Moderator
- Janice Cooper
Interim Director
National Center for Children in Poverty
Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
Panelists
- Indivar Dutta-Gupta
Professional Staff
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support - Mark Levitan
Director of Poverty Research
New York City Center for Economic Opportunity - Jane Waldfogel
Professor of Social Work and Public Affairs
Columbia University, School of Social Work - Vanessa R. Wight
Senior Research Associate, Demography
National Center for Children in Poverty
Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
You may watch and listen to the entire call at the WebEx website. The call is 87 minutes.