|
ERS researchers measured the effect of food stamps on child poverty
by using three measures: the incidence of poverty, the poverty
gap, and the squared poverty gap. The incidence of poverty measures
the
share
of people living in poverty (percentage below the poverty line).
The poverty gap measures the depth of poverty (changes in the average
income of
the poor), and the
squared
poverty
gap
measures
the severity of poverty (changes in the inequality of income distribution
of the poor). ERS researchers found that the value of food stamps,
when
added
to
incomes,
reduces the incidence of child poverty by 4.3 percent, the depth
of child poverty by 13.9 percent, and the severity of child poverty
by 19.7 percent.
Food Stamp Benefits and Childhood
Poverty in the 1990s by Dean Joliffe, Craig Gundersen, Laura
Tiehen, and Joshua Winicki, Food Assistance and Nutrition Research
Report No. 33, September 2003.
|
Go to the 
