Some Possibly Surprising Facts About Poverty

I have been covering poverty and the distribution of income in micro this week. Here are some interesting links from the blog of economist Mark Perry called Carpe Diem. He actually has moved recently to a new location, so click here to see it.

More on The U.S. Poor Getting Richer, And Being Envy of the World's Poor. Here he shows how the percentage of poor households in America that owns various appliances and conveniences is very high, often about as high as the entire population of Sweden.

5 Problems With Census Poverty and Income Data. This one shows that over time, median household income per household member has been increasing. Part of the problem with household income numbers is that they don't ofteh adjust for declining size of household.

Our Poor Are the Envy of the World's Poor. Here he mentions that: "In 1971, only about 32 percent of all Americans enjoyed air conditioning in their homes. By 2001, 76 percent of poor people had air conditioning." It is true for other appliances as well.

Consumption Equality 7X > Than Income Equality. Here he mentions that:

"The bottom fifth earned just $9,974, but spent nearly twice that — an average of $18,153 a year. How is that possible? Those lower-income families have access to various sources of spending money that doesn’t fall under taxable income. These sources include portions of sales of property like homes and cars and securities that are not subject to capital gains taxes, insurance policies redeemed, or the drawing down of bank accounts."

New Mpls. Federal Reserve Bank Study Shows Significant Earnings Mobility Between 2001-2007. Here he shows that 44% of the people in bottom quintile in 2001 had moved to a higher quintile in 2007.

Pew Research Calls It "Hollowing Out of the Middle Class," But 150 Americans Moved Up for Every 100 Who Moved Down Between 1971 and 2011. He mentions that:

"Between 1971 and 2011, the share of adult Americans in the “middle class” decreased by ten percentage points from 61% to 51%. Of that 10% of American adults who left the middle class, 6% moved up to the “upper-income” category and 4% move down to the “lower-income” category."

Census Data Show Significant Income Mobility. Here says that:

"From 1996 to 2005, we have the income mobility data for income quintiles. Of those filers who were in the lowest 20% in 1996 and who also filed in 2005, 42.4% remained in the bottom 20% but 57.6% had moved up to a higher quintile: 28.6% were in the next highest quintile, 13.9% were in the middle quintile, 9.9% were in the second highest quintile, and 5.3% were in the highest quintile."

The Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor Are Getting Richer; The Good Old Days Are Now. In 1971, 88.3% of all American households had a refrigerator. Today, 98.5% of poor households do. This is true for many other goods. More poor people have them now than did the average people in 1971. In 1973, the average worker had to work 89 hours to buy a refrigerator. Today it is only 23 hours. This is true for many other goods.

Bad News for 2 Americas Myth: The Poor Got Richer. Here is one thing it says, as of 2007: "The CBO reports that low-wage households with children had earnings after inflation in 2005 that were about 80% higher than in the early 1990s."