This article examines the long-term impact of government transfers on poverty in the United States using cointegration techniques. In contrast to most existing studies, we find that government transfers play an important poverty-reducing role.

We examine the impact of government transfers and the business cycle on poverty in the United States in the context of a poverty function that includes the official poverty rate, three types of government transfers, real wages, the number of female-headed families, and a business cycle variable....

We examine the impact of government transfers and the business cycle on poverty in the United States in the context of a poverty function that includes the official poverty rate, three types of government transfers, real wages, the number of female-headed families, and a business cycle variable....