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Title
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Poor state, rich state : understanding the variability of poverty rates across U.S. States
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Author
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Abstract
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| According to the Supplemental Poverty Measure, state-level poverty rates range from a low of less than 10 percent in Iowa to a high of more than 20 percent in California. We seek to account for these differences using a theoretical framework proposed by Brady, Finnigan, and Hubgen (2017), which emphasizes the prevalence of poverty risk factors as well as poverty penalties associated with each risk factor. We estimate state-specific penalties and prevalences associated with single motherhood, low education, young households, and joblessness. We also consider state variation in the poverty risks associated with living in a black household and a Hispanic immigrant household. Brady et al. (2017) find that country-level differences in poverty rates are more closely tied to penalties than prevalences. Using data from the Current Population Survey, we find that the opposite is true for state-level differences in poverty rates. Although we find that state poverty differences are closely tied to the prevalence of high-risk populations, our results do not suggest that state-level antipoverty policy should be solely focused on changing "risky" behavior. Based on our findings, we conclude that state policies should take into account cost-of-living penalties as well as the state-specific relationship between poverty, prevalences, and penalties. |
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Language
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English
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Source (journal)
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Sociological Science. - [S.l.]
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Publication
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[S.l.]
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Society for Sociological Science
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2018
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ISSN
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2330-6696
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DOI
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10.15195/V5.A26
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Volume/pages
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5
(2018)
, p. 628-652
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ISI
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000446673300001
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Full text (Publisher's DOI)
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Full text (open access)
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