using the Current Population Survey (CPS), the source of official poverty and inequality statistics. We link administrative … income of poor households. Underreporting in the survey data also greatly understates the effects of anti-poverty programs … and changes our understanding of program targeting. Using the combined data rather than survey data alone, the poverty …

Many studies examine the anti-poverty effects of social insurance and means-tested transfers, relying solely on survey … Program Participation data. Using the linked data, we find that Social Security cuts the poverty rate by a third – more than … effective. All programs except for the EITC sharply reduce deep poverty (below 50% of the poverty line), while the impact of the …

build sustainable income for those in extreme poverty. We focus on two important questions: whether a mere grant of …

This paper reviews the current policies for fighting poverty and explores the impact they have had. We begin by … reviewing trends in poverty, poverty spending and economic performance. It is immediately apparent that economic performance is … the dominant determinant of the measured poverty rate over the past two decades. Government assistance programs expanded …

, including welfare participation, labor market involvement, earnings, income and poverty, and family formation. While no single … family earnings. The result was a rise in total family income and a decline in poverty. The gains from the 1996 reforms were …