Web Links

Marginal URLs:

• p. 794: Go to http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income.html to view the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent data on the U.S. income distribution. Click on the most recent year next to "Money Income in the United States."
• p. 801: Go to http://www4.worldbank.org/sprojects/ to learn about the World Bank's programs intended to combat global poverty.

• To read the study of household income volatility by Dynan, Elmendorf, and Sichel, go to http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2007/06useconomics_dynan/06useconomics_dynan.pdf.
• To learn about why increased male income volatility might increase the probability of divorce, go to http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/working/Nunley-HHIV.pdf.

Measuring Poverty In this application, you will learn why poverty can be difficult to measure.

Title: World Bank PovertyNet: Understanding Poverty

Navigation: Go to http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/EXTPA/0,,contentMDK:20202198~menuPK:435055~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:430367,00.html to visit the World Bank's home page. Click on Topics and then Poverty Analysis. Then click on Measuring Poverty.

Application: Perform the indicated operations, and answer the following questions.

1. Click on "Defining welfare measures." Why does this discussion suggest that measures of consumption are more useful to use in measuring poverty than income measures? Does the U.S. government's use of income thresholds for its official definition of poverty accord with this discussion?

2. Click on "Choose and estimate a poverty line." What alternative absolute poverty definitions are discussed? If the U.S. government were to adopt any of these absolute measures for its official poverty definition, what would happen to the U.S. poverty rate as real incomes and living standards rise over time?