Beyond the Stats: Realities, Perception, and Social Media Discourse on Poverty

This paper investigates disparities among objective poverty measures, individuals' subjective perceptions, and poverty-related social media discourse in US counties. We find that while poverty and perceived poverty are positively correlated, poverty-related social media discourse is unrelated to a county's level of poverty. We document that the county-level predictors of the three poverty dimensions differ widely, suggesting that poverty-related social media discussions do not take place in the counties that are most affected by poverty or perceive themselves as poor. The paper concludes by highlighting discrepancies in social media discourse, revealing a skewed portrayal of poverty, particularly concerning gender and ethnicity.