scholarly journals Did We Lose the War on Poverty?

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale W Jorgenson

Official U.S. poverty statistics based on household income imply that the proportion of the U.S. population below the poverty level reached a minimum in 1973, giving rise to the widespread impression that the elimination of poverty is impossible. By contrast, poverty estimates based on household consumption have fallen through 1989 and imply that the war on poverty was a success. This paper recommends replacing income by consumption in official estimates of poverty in order to obtain a more accurate assessment of the impact of income support programs and economic growth on the level and distribution of economic well-being among households.

Author(s):  
Steven V. Cates ◽  
Jason V. Jackson

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. This research analyzes existing data to review the impact on unemployment in the U.S. following each conflict and war it has been involved in. There is a comparison drawn to the Roman Economy and its dependence on war to and the economy of the U.S. and the causes of its ability to have economic success and the impact on unemployment of U.S. workers as a result.


Author(s):  
Elmo Christian Saarentaus ◽  
Aki Samuli Havulinna ◽  
Nina Mars ◽  
Ari Ahola-Olli ◽  
Tuomo Tapio Johannes Kiiskinen ◽  
...  

AbstractCopy number variants (CNVs) are associated with syndromic and severe neurological and psychiatric disorders (SNPDs), such as intellectual disability, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Although considered high-impact, CNVs are also observed in the general population. This presents a diagnostic challenge in evaluating their clinical significance. To estimate the phenotypic differences between CNV carriers and non-carriers regarding general health and well-being, we compared the impact of SNPD-associated CNVs on health, cognition, and socioeconomic phenotypes to the impact of three genome-wide polygenic risk score (PRS) in two Finnish cohorts (FINRISK, n = 23,053 and NFBC1966, n = 4895). The focus was on CNV carriers and PRS extremes who do not have an SNPD diagnosis. We identified high-risk CNVs (DECIPHER CNVs, risk gene deletions, or large [>1 Mb] CNVs) in 744 study participants (2.66%), 36 (4.8%) of whom had a diagnosed SNPD. In the remaining 708 unaffected carriers, we observed lower educational attainment (EA; OR = 0.77 [95% CI 0.66–0.89]) and lower household income (OR = 0.77 [0.66–0.89]). Income-associated CNVs also lowered household income (OR = 0.50 [0.38–0.66]), and CNVs with medical consequences lowered subjective health (OR = 0.48 [0.32–0.72]). The impact of PRSs was broader. At the lowest extreme of PRS for EA, we observed lower EA (OR = 0.31 [0.26–0.37]), lower-income (OR = 0.66 [0.57–0.77]), lower subjective health (OR = 0.72 [0.61–0.83]), and increased mortality (Cox’s HR = 1.55 [1.21–1.98]). PRS for intelligence had a similar impact, whereas PRS for schizophrenia did not affect these traits. We conclude that the majority of working-age individuals carrying high-risk CNVs without SNPD diagnosis have a modest impact on morbidity and mortality, as well as the limited impact on income and educational attainment, compared to individuals at the extreme end of common genetic variation. Our findings highlight that the contribution of traditional high-risk variants such as CNVs should be analyzed in a broader genetic context, rather than evaluated in isolation.


1983 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole Shammas

The proportion of a household's budget spent on diet has commonly served as an important measure of material welfare. This paper pulls together data concerning trends in food expenditures for early modern England and draws comparisons with figures for later periods. The usefulness of wage assessments, a new source for estimating the proportion of outlays devoted to diet, is examined. The impact on food expenditures of new commodities and other dietary shifts is also explored. The findings call into question earlier estimates of the proportion of total expenditure devoted to food and drink in the pre-industrial period and the assumption that food expenditures are always inelastic.


2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunjeong Joo ◽  
Aditya R. Khanal ◽  
Ashok K. Mishra

Agritourism is an alternative source of farm income. We examine farmers’ participation in agritourism activities to assess the impact of participation on farm household income and return to assets using a large farm-level survey. The results reveal that older, educated, and female operators are more likely to participate in agritourism. However, government subsidies and the population of the county are negatively correlated with agritourism. Of the types of farm operations examined, small-scale farms that involved agritourism generated the greatest household incomes and returns to assets. For operators of small farms, agritourism can boost the economic well-being of farm households.


Challenge ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Wolff ◽  
Ajit Zacharias

BMJ Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. e024015
Author(s):  
Mouctar Sow ◽  
Myriam De Spiegelaere ◽  
Marie-France Raynault

IntroductionAssessing the effects of social policies on social health inequalities (SHIs) is a complex issue. Variations in social policy between countries or regions provide natural experiments in policy implementation to perform comparative research. Comparisons are most enlightening when: the object of the evaluation is well defined (types of policies, population groups); the context of policy is analysed (history, implementation); the impact of policy on household poverty is outlined in detail; the influence of various factors (other than poverty) on SHI is taken into consideration.Methods and analysisThis study aims to understand how income support policies (ISPs) in Brussels and Montreal influence the poverty level of households receiving social assistance, and how they are associated with SHI at birth. Two cases studies will be carried out from a comparative perspective. The analysis includes four stages : (1) The model family method will be used to compare ISPs and their impact on disposable income and poverty of households receiving social assistance in both regions. (2) Statistical analysis of administrative databases will enable the description and comparison of SHI in adverse pregnancy outcomes across the two regions. (3) Analysis of databases and documents will allow for description of various factors which are likely to interact with poverty and influence SHI at birth. (4) Based on the Diderichsen model, results from the previous stages will be used to formulate hypotheses about the mechanisms by which ISPs contribute to increasing or reducing SHI at birth in both regions.Ethics and disseminationThis research was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee for Health research of Université de Montréal. In Belgium, the access to linked databases was approved by the Commission for the Protection of Privacy. Databases de-identified according to Belgian and Canadian legislation will be used. Results will be disseminated in scientific publications and will be shared with policy makers and field actors through collaborations with local organisations in Brussels and Montreal.


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