Watch: Improving How Poverty Is Measured
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS), Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) offers recommendations for updating how poverty is measured in the U.S. On Thursday, September 28, five members of the NAS committee that produced the report presented their assessment of the current Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) and what a change from the SPM to a new Principal Poverty Measure would accomplish. The panel included: Ingrid Gould Ellen (New York University), David Johnson (NAS), Sanders Korenman (Baruch College), Jane Waldfogel (Columbia University), and James Ziliak (University of Kentucky). Ziliak (University of Kentucky), a former RSF visiting scholar and grantee, chaired the NAS committee of experts that issued the report, and each of the other panelists have also received research support from RSF. Following the committee presentations, a distinguished panel, including RSF president Sheldon Danziger and current RSF visiting scholar Carolyn Barnes, discussed the report’s recommendations.
The event was held at Baruch College and was co-hosted by: Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Baruch College, CUNY; Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University; and the Center on Poverty and Social Policy, Columbia University of Social Work.