EXPERIMENTAL POVERTY MEASURES
Summary of a Workshop
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract No. 223-01-2460 TO# 14 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Food and Drug Administration with funding from the U.S. Census Bureau. The work of the Committee on National Statistics is supported by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant from the National Science Foundation (Number SES-0112521). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2005). Experimental Poverty Measures: Summary of a Workshop. John Iceland, Rapporteur. Planning Group for the Workshop to Assess the Current Status of Actions Taken in Response to Measuring Poverty: A New Approach, Committee on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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PLANNING GROUP FOR THE WORKSHOP TO ASSESS THE CURRENT STATUS OF ACTIONS TAKEN IN RESPONSE TO MEASURING POVERTY: A NEW APPROACH
REBECCA BLANK (Chair),
Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
DAVID BETSON,
Department of Economics and Policy Studies, University of Notre Dame
GRAHAM KALTON, Senior Vice President,
Westat, Rockville, MD
TIMOTHY SMEEDING,
School of Public Policy, Syracuse University
BARBARA WOLFE,
Department of Economics and Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison
CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Director,
Committee on National Statistics
MICHELE VER PLOEG, Study Director
JOHN ICELAND, Rapporteur
JAMIE CASEY, Research Assistant
TANYA M. LEE, Project Assistant
MICHAEL SIRI, Project Assistant
COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS 2004-2005
WILLIAM F. EDDY (Chair),
Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University
KATHARINE G. ABRAHAM,
Department of Economics, University of Maryland at College Park
ROBERT BELL,
Statistician, AT&T Laboratories-Research, Florham Park, NJ
LAWRENCE D. BROWN,
Department of Statistics, University of Pennsylvania
ROBERT M. GROVES,
Survey Research Center, University of Michigan
JOHN HALTIWANGER,
Department of Economics, University of Maryland at College Park
PAUL HOLLAND,
Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ
JOEL L. HOROWITZ,
Department of Economics, Northwestern University
DOUGLAS S. MASSEY,
Department of Sociology and Public Policy, Princeton University
VIJAYAN NAIR,
Department of Statistics and Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
DARYL PREGIBON,
Google Inc., New York, NY
KENNETH PREWITT,
School of Public Affairs, Columbia University
LOUISE M. RYAN,
Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health
NORA CATE SCHAEFFER,
Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Director
Acknowledgments
On behalf of the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT), I thank all of the individuals involved in the workshop and the production of this workshop summary. First, I thank all those individuals who presented information and shared their ideas for improvements in the U.S. measure of poverty, including those people who prepared papers, those who served as formal discussants, and those who attended the workshop and participated in a lively and informative set of discussions (see the workshop agenda in Appendix A and the list of workshop participants in Appendix B). Second, I thank the members of the planning group (listed on page v), who were central to the workshop’s success; they devoted much effort to structuring the agenda and identifying experts to make presentations and serve as discussants.
I also thank Katherine K. Wallman, chief statistician in the Office of Management and Budget, for originating the idea for the workshop and working with CNSTAT and the U.S. Census Bureau to bring it to fruition. The Census Bureau provided funding for the workshop through a task order contract between the Food and Drug Administration and the National Academies.
John Iceland, University of Maryland, was responsible for preparing this summary of the workshop. He attended the workshop, developed the outline, and wrote the summary—which faithfully, elegantly, and succinctly captures the workshop discussions.
I am grateful for the excellent work of the staff of the Committee on National Statistics and the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE) for developing and organizing the workshop and assisting in the preparation of the workshop summary. Michele Ver Ploeg, who served as study director for the project, was chiefly responsible for organizing the workshop. Tanya Lee and Michael Siri handled all administrative matters regarding the workshop. Jamie Casey assisted in revising the workshop summary in response to reviewers’ comments, and Eugenia Grohman of the DBASSE reports office edited it.
This workshop summary has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the National Research Council. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process. We thank the following individuals for their review of this report: David M. Betson, Department of Economics and Policy Studies, University of Notre Dame; David S. Johnson, Division of Price and Index Number Research, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, DC; and Robert D. Reischauer, President’s Office, The Urban Institute, Washington, DC.
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the content of the report nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Robert T. Michael, Harris Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, and Joseph P. Newhouse, Health Policy and Management, Harvard University. Appointed by the National Research Council, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the author and the institution.
Constance F. Citro, Director
Committee on National Statistics