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Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Living Below The Line: Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Economic Security Among Older Americans, 2020, Jan Mutchler, Nidya Velasco Roldán, Yang Li
Living Below The Line: Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Economic Security Among Older Americans, 2020, Jan Mutchler, Nidya Velasco Roldán, Yang Li
Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications
New estimates from the 2019 Elder IndexTM highlight the risk of economic insecurity experienced by older adults, a risk that is especially high for persons of color. The Gerontology Institute compares the household incomes for adults age 65 and above living in one- and two-person households to the 2019 Elder Index for each state and Washington, DC to calculate Elder Economic Insecurity Rates (EEIRs), the percentage of independent older adults age 65 or older living in households with annual incomes that do not support economic security. National averages suggest that among people living alone, 48% of older people who …
Double Jeopardy: Low-Wage And Low-Income Workers In Massachusetts, 1980–2009, Randy Albelda, Michael Carr
Double Jeopardy: Low-Wage And Low-Income Workers In Massachusetts, 1980–2009, Randy Albelda, Michael Carr
Economics Faculty Publication Series
Data reveal a growing number of Massachusetts workers who both earn low wages and live in low-income families. They face “double jeopardy”: As low-wage earners, they are least likely to receive employer-sponsored benefits, yet they are often ineligible for means-tested government anti-poverty programs.
Economic Writing On The Pressing Problems Of The Day: The Roles Of Moral Intuition And Methodological Confusion, Julie A. Nelson
Economic Writing On The Pressing Problems Of The Day: The Roles Of Moral Intuition And Methodological Confusion, Julie A. Nelson
Economics Faculty Publication Series
Economists are often called on to help address pressing problems of the day, yet many economists are uncomfortable about disclosing the values that they bring to this work. This essay explores how an inadequate understanding of the role of methodology, as related to ethics and human emotions of concern, underlies this reluctance and compromises the quality of economic advice. The tension between caring about the problems, on the one hand, and writing within the existing culture of the discipline, on the other, are illustrated with examples from U.S. policymaking, behavioral economics, and the economics of climate change and global poverty. …
Poverty In The Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Community, Randy Albelda, M.V. Lee Badgett, Alyssa Schneebaum, Gary J. Gates
Poverty In The Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Community, Randy Albelda, M.V. Lee Badgett, Alyssa Schneebaum, Gary J. Gates
Center for Social Policy Publications
In 2007, 12.5% of Americans were officially counted as poor by the United States Census Bureau. People from every region, race, age, and sex are counted among our nation’s poor, where ―poor‖ is defined as living in a family with an income below the federal poverty level. In contrast, lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people are invisible in these poverty statistics. This report undertakes the first analysis of the poor and low-income lesbian, gay, and bisexual population. The social and policy context of LGB life provides many reasons to think that LGB people are at least as likely—and perhaps more …
The Meaning Of Poverty: Questions Of Distribution And Power, Arthur Macewan
The Meaning Of Poverty: Questions Of Distribution And Power, Arthur Macewan
Economics Faculty Publication Series
Focusing on the low-income parts of the world and reviewing the different ways we can define poverty, I first argue that what people generally mean by poverty – or, more broadly, by economic well-being – cannot be adequately captured by a single, absolute measure such as income level or a more complex aggregate such as the Human Development Index. Not only do these measures fail to account for the complexity of human material needs, but they also fail to recognize the importance of distributional issues. The failure to incorporate a consideration of distribution in defining poverty (or, more generally, economic …
Why Equality? How Equality?: The Desirability Of A Focus On Income Distribution, Arthur Macewan
Why Equality? How Equality?: The Desirability Of A Focus On Income Distribution, Arthur Macewan
Economics Faculty Publication Series
Much of the discussion of economic development in low and middle income countries and of poverty reduction has either ignored the issue of income distribution or has tended to view income distribution only in terms of its impact on economic growth. In this paper I argue that such an approach is misguided. I will explain, first, why I believe that it is desirable to give a great deal of attention to income distribution in the analysis of economic development and poverty reduction. My argument includes conceptual, political and practical elements. Second, I will suggest some of the ways in which …