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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
An 8 page paper that explains how Mollie Orshansky developed her thresholds for poverty. The writer discusses the assumptions made in her calculations and comments on the validity. The paper also provides the median income in the U.S. and selected poverty thresholds for 2004 along with the estimated amount spent on food in two categories. The threshold used by Europe is used as a comparison. The writer then comments on how impossible it is to purchase food for an adequate, nutritious diet on the amount identified. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
8 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGpovthr.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
two poverty thresholds, one was based on the Agriculture Departments economy food plan and the other was based on a less stringent low-cost food plan from that same department (Fisher,
1997). It is important to note that Orshansky "was trying to develop a measure to assess the relative risks of low economic status (or, more broadly, the differentials in opportunity)
among different demographic groups of families with children (Fisher, 1997). This is an important point to remember because Congress took this information and ran with it. Worse, Congress used the
lower of the two sets of thresholds Orshansky developed (Fisher, 1997). It was not Orshanskys intention to create a measure of poverty (Fisher, 1997). For one thing, there is the
issue of the numerous non-food staples an individual or family needs but since there was not at the time (and still isnt) a standard for these other things, like medical
care, transportation, housing, clothing, etc., Orshansky based the thresholds only on food costs as opposed to a standard budget orientation (Fisher, 1997). Orshansky herself said: "there is no generally accepted
standard of adequacy for essentials of living except food" (Fisher, 1997). Orshansky used the food plans that had been devised by the Department of Agriculture, which have four levels in
terms of cost: "liberal, moderate, low-cost, and economy" (Fisher, 1997). The economy food plan was devised in 1961 and was based on a survey of food consumption conducted by the
Department of Agriculture; the other three were devised in 1933 (Fisher, 1997). Orshansky based her thresholds on the economy and low-cost food plans (Fisher, 1997). In terms of family income,
the low-cost food plan was based on the eating habits of persons in the lowest third of the range of income, the economy plan was based on 75 top 80
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