Skip Navigation



The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences Advance Access published online on April 9, 2009
The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, doi:10.1093/geronb/gbp022
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
64B/6/758    most recent
gbp022v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fisher, J. D.
Right arrow Articles by Torrey, B. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fisher, J. D.
Right arrow Articles by Torrey, B. B.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Identifying the Poorest Older Americans

Jonathan D. Fisher1, David S. Johnson2, Joseph T. Marchand3, Timothy M. Smeeding4 and Barbara B. Torrey5

1 Litigation Analytics, Inc., New York, New York
2 U.S. Census Bureau, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, Washington, DC
3 Department of Economics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
4 La Follette School of Public Affairs, Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, Madison
5 U.S. Population Reference Bureau, Washington, DC

Address correspondence to Jonathan D. Fisher, PhD, Litigation Analytics Inc., 370 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1802, New York, NY 10017. Email: jfisher{at}litigationanalytics.com


  Abstract

Objectives: Public policies target a subset of the population defined as poor or needy, but rarely are people poor or needy in the same way. This is particularly true among older adults. This study investigates poverty among older adults in order to identify who among them is financially worst off.

Methods: We use 20 years of data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey to examine the income and consumption of older Americans.

Results: The poverty rate is cut in fourth if both income and consumption are used to define poverty. Those most likely to be poor defined by only income but not poor defined by income and consumption together are married, White, and homeowners and have a high school diploma or higher. The income poor alone display sufficient assets to raise consumption above poverty thresholds, whereas the consumption poor are shown to have income just above the poverty threshold and few assets.

Discussion: The poorest among the older population are those who are income and consumption poor. Understanding the nature of this double poverty population is important in measuring the success of future public policies to reduce poverty among this group.

Key Words: Poverty • Income • Consumption • Wealth

Received July 11, 2008; Accepted February 12, 2009

Decision Editor: Kenneth F. Ferraro, PhD


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.