Trends in Poverty in the United States, 1967–84

The sensitivity of movements in poverty to the method used in measuring poverty is examined. The use of various poverty indices, and of various ways of setting the poverty lines, does not affect the conclusion that poverty followed a U‐shaped pattern from 1967 to 1984. A model for a family's income/needs ratio is estimated and used to explore the factors that might lie behind this pattern. The results suggest that changes over time in the location of the income distribution are most relevant to the corresponding changes in poverty. Changes in the structure of families, and in labor supply within families, have also been relevant to recent movements in poverty.