Browsing by Subject "politics of poverty"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Poor, Not Poor: The Politics of Measuring Poverty
    (Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, 2009-05-13) Babbitt, Rachel
    Poverty identifies people with limited resources. It is as important to measure poverty as to identify the populations that are poor and how poverty programs address the issue. The history of poverty and the political motivations behind the measurement all relate to how poverty is addressed. Poverty measurements were created in the 1960s from information collected in 1955 and have been altered only for inflation since then. There have been several alternative measurements that advocacy groups have suggested to replace the current measure. This analysis looks at the issues surrounding what poverty means and how this definition impacts measurement. Alternative measurements are also analyzed and then applied to the perspective of how alternative poverty measurements could affect TANF cash assistance. This analysis will look at how politics plays a role in the creation and selection of poverty measurements. The definition of poverty and methods of measurement are all impacted by these political values, and thus the policy process is impacted by these values.