Poverty Spending and the Poverty Gap

In: Journal of policy analysis and management: the journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Band 6, Heft 2, S. 230-241

Abstract

Two questions basic to welfare policy are examined: (1) whether the amount of poverty-related transfers is sufficient to fill the poverty gap; & (2) which families actually get benefits & how much of their income deficit is filled by those benefits. Transfers are seen to be sufficient. The post-Social Security poverty gap is $74 billion, while poverty-related programs total $198 billion. Further, 86% of current income-conditioned benefits go to the pretransfer poor & 89% of those are used to alleviate poverty (fill the poverty gap). Thus, if a substantial fraction of total federal & state expenditures on poverty-related programs could be targeted more toward the poor, the poverty gap would be eliminated. The current programs, however, would have to be changed substantially to achieve the necessary retargeting. 3 Tables, 1 Appendix. HA