Disclaimer: Not all the authors of the research papers and conference presentations are affiliated with BLS. This information is provided for your convenience and does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of BLS.

Research Experimental Poverty Thresholds

Overview

Since 1995, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has been conducting research on the development of experimental expenditure-based poverty thresholds known as the National Academy of Science (NAS) Thresholds. The early work was based on recommendations of the 1995 NAS report Measuring Poverty: A New Approach, (Citro and Michael 1995). More recently, the Interagency Technical Working Group (ITWG) provided a framework for a second set of poverty thresholds as part of the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The ITWG's recommendations are outlined in the document "Observations from the Interagency Technical Working Group on Developing a Supplemental Poverty Measure" (PDF). A guiding principle for the development of the SPM is that resources and thresholds be consistently defined.

Both the NAS and ITWG documents refer to the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) as the basis for these expenditure-based poverty thresholds. The documents also note that BLS is responsible for conducting research on expenditure-based poverty thresholds, and for providing these thresholds to the U.S. Census Bureau for use in producing research experimental poverty statistics. The ITWG acknowledged that the BLS had produced the NAS thresholds in the past and expected that the BLS would continue to play this role for the SPM.

Within the BLS, the Division of Price and Index Number Research (DPINR) conducts all expenditure-based poverty threshold research. Support regarding the CE data is provided, as needed, by staff within the Division of Consumer Expenditure Surveys. DPINR research is conducted in consultation and cooperation with U.S. Census Bureau researchers.

Research Experimental poverty thresholds are presented with a caveat: what appears on this BLS web page does not reflect the rigors of production quality thresholds or related statistics. For such thresholds to be produced, a broader BLS endeavor would need to be created that coordinates the development of improvements in, and the production and dissemination of, expenditure-based SPM thresholds. This effort would include support for: research economists to devise and test suggested improvements in the thresholds and share this research with the economics and statistics profession at large, as well as the general public; IT staff to design, code, test, and provide diagnostic statistics; statistical methods staff to develop measures of data and statistical quality; and economists to analyze the data, produce the thresholds and related statistics, and disseminate the thresholds to the public. As part of this effort, improvements in the CE Survey would need to be introduced to better capture information to meet the needs of the SPM such as those related to the receipt of in-kind benefits. Currently, BLS produces the SPM thresholds using Consumer Expenditure (CE) Survey Interview data as an experimental research product, since production quality thresholds cannot not be produced within existing resources.

On this web page, recently produced BLS-DPINR Research Experimental expenditure-based poverty thresholds are presented along with papers and presentations related to these. Much of the research was conducted by BLS in cooperation with U.S. Census Bureau staff and other academic researchers. Again, as noted above, the thresholds developed and described in the research papers and conference presentations are not produced using standard BLS production procedures.

This BLS website hosts the BLS-DPINR Research Experimental SPM thresholds (see below), while the U.S. Census Bureau website hosts the official measure ( https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty.html ) and Research Experimental NAS poverty thresholds ( https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2016/demo/supplemental-poverty-measure/nas-2016.html ). On october 2018, the Bureau of the Census releases the SPM poverty statistics based on the BLS-DPINR thresholds.

Background

The official poverty measure of the United States was first developed in the early 1960s and adopted as "official" in 1969. The official poverty threshold was determined to be the dollar value of a minimally adequate diet times three. The multiplier of three was used because 1955 Food Consumption Survey data showed that food expenditures accounted for one-third of after-tax income for an average family with children. An annual threshold of about $3,100 for a family with two adults and two children was set as the standard of need for 1963, and has been fixed in inflation-adjusted terms since then. The U.S. Census Bureau is responsible for publishing official annual poverty thresholds, rates, and other statistics.

The NAS recommendations provide the framework for a definition of the SPM. However, research over the years has suggested modifications to the NAS recommendations; the modifications are discussed in detail in the ITWG document. The SPM is not intended to replace the official poverty measure but is to be considered a work in progress, with the expectation that there will be improvements to it over time. Changes in the SPM are to be decided upon in a process led by research economists, survey methodologists, and statisticians within the U.S. Census Bureau in consultation with BLS and with other appropriate data agencies and outside experts, and will be based on solid analytical evidence.

BLS-DPINR Research Experimental Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) Thresholds

BLS-DPINR Research Experimental SPM thresholds are based on consumer unit out-of-pocket expenditures for food, clothing, shelter, and utilities (FCSU), and a multiplier to account for the expenditures of other basic goods and services, like those for household supplies, personal care, and non-work related transportation. The Census Bureau compares resources to thresholds to assess whether consumer units can meet their needs as defined by the SPM thresholds. If a consumer unit is unable to meet these needs, it is considered poor. Currently the SPM resource measure counts not only money income that can be used to meet out-of-pocket FCSU expenditures, but also the value of in-kind benefits to meet FCSU needs through the use of these benefits. In-kind benefits added to net income by the Census Bureau include benefits from: Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), National School Lunch Program (NSLP), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC), and rental assistance from government sources. SNAP benefit values are implicitly included in food expenditures in calculating the SPM thresholds; however, in-kind benefits from the other programs are not considered. This is because the Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey collects limited to no information on the receipt of these additional benefits. Current research is ongoing to develop approaches to account for these in-kind benefits in SPM thresholds. Once these benefits are accounted for in SPM thresholds, consistency in the thresholds and resources will be achieved.

For each threshold year, five years of quarterly U.S. Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey data are used. Expenditures are updated to annual threshold year dollars using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).

BLS-DPINR Research Experimental SPM thresholds are based on a range of FCSU expenditures centered on the 33rd percentile for the estimation sample of consumer units (CUs). The NAS-based thresholds are derived using a percentage of the median of FCSU expenditures. Also, unlike the earlier NAS-based thresholds that were based on spending by families with two adults and two children, the SPM estimation sample is composed of CUs with two children and any number of adults. Equivalence scales are used to convert the estimation sample FCSU expenditures to those of reference consumer units composed of two adults and two children.

A three-parameter equivalence scale, proposed by Betson (1996), is used to adjust FCSU expenditures for each consumer unit in the estimation sample. The parameters allow for the differing needs of adults and children and for economies of scale for consumption within the consumer unit. A distinguishing feature of the three-parameter equivalence scale is the adjustment for single parents; no adjustment for single parents was included in the two-parameter scale proposed by the NAS Panel. The three-parameter equivalence scale has been used in the production of the NAS and SPM thresholds in the past (e.g., Garner 2010). Directly below, we present the three-parameter equivalence scale that is applied to the estimation sample for the production of the BLS-DPINR Research Experimental SPM thresholds:

Single adults with children scale = (1 + a + β(K-1))^f

Multiple adults with children scale = (A + βK)^f

where

a = parameter to account for the needs of the first child,

β = parameter to account for the needs of additional children,

f = parameter to account for economies of scale within the consumer unit,

A = number of adults within the consumer unit, and

K = number of children within the consumer unit

 

The parameters a, β, and f were estimated by Betson to fit the cost of children literature, and when rounded, were selected to be 0.8, 0.5, and 0.7, respectively.

Separate BLS-DPINR Research Experimental SPM thresholds for consumer units with two adults and two children are produced for owners with mortgages, owners without mortgages, and renters. The BLS-DPINR Research Experimental SPM housing tenure thresholds are produced using the equation below.

SPM Threshold_h = 1.2 * FCSU _E - (S + U) _E + (S + U) _h

1.2   = multiplier used to account for expenditures for other basic goods and services, like those for household supplies, personal care, and non-work related transportation.

FCSU, S, and U  refer to the means of the sum of expenditures for food, clothing, shelter and utilities, and the shelter and utilities portions of FCSU, respectively, for the estimation of sample CUs within the 30^th to 36^th percentile range of FCSU expenditures.

E   refers to consumer units in the estimation sample within the 30^th to 36^th percentile range of FCSU equivalized expenditures.

h   refers to one of three housing tenure groups:

Owners with mortgages
Owners without mortgages, or
Renters.

To test for a significant change in the threshold from the previous year, or to make a comparison between thresholds within a year, one would conduct a Z-test. The test statistics are specified below, for each type of comparison. First, to test for the statistical difference in thresholds from one year to the next (e.g., SPM renter thresholds in 2017 as compared to 2016), simply divide the difference in the thresholds for time t and t-1 by the standard error of the year-to-year difference.

Z _{Renters , t , t-1} = (SPM _{Renters , t} - SPM _{Renters , t-1} ) / Standard error _{Renters , t, t-1}

For a statistical comparison of thresholds within year t (e.g., renter thresholds compared to owner without mortgage thresholds), simply divide the difference in the two thresholds within the year by the standard error of the difference between the two housing tenure groups that is listed for the current threshold year.

Z _{Renters compared to Owners without mortgages , t} =

(SPM _{Renters , t} - SPM _{Owner without mortgages , t} ) / Standard error _{Renters compared to Owners without mortgages , t}

Research Experimental SPM thresholds for 2009-2010 were first posted to the BLS website in table format in November 2011. Thresholds for 2005-2008 were added shortly thereafter. Ever since, the time series has been supplemented by an additional year's threshold each year after the release of CE public use data.

The BLS-DPINR Research Experimental SPM thresholds and associated standard errors can be found through the links below. Also available are the expenditure shares of each of the components of the thresholds. Please note that use of all of the significant digits presented in the spreadsheets are necessary for inclusion in calculations; precision will affect the resulting dollar value.

• BLS-DPINR Research Experimental SPM Thresholds with Housing Tenure Shares (XLSX)


• Standard Errors (XLSX)


• Expenditure Shares (XLSX)

The weighted share distribution of consumer units by housing tenure for the SPM thresholds for each year is included in the "BLS-DPINR Research Experimental SPM Thresholds with Housing Tenure Shares" file. This is included to facilitate the calculation of a weighted average of the three SPM thresholds for users who are interested in FCSU threshold that does not account for housing tenure. Note: The ITWG included the recommendation for the production of three housing tenure thresholds, not a single threshold. A weighted average of a particular component of the SPM thresholds (i.e., food, clothing, shelter, utilities) can be computed using the housing tenure distributional weights along with the housing tenure specific component from the "Expenditure Shares" file below. For example, a weighted average of Shelter across the three housing tenure groups would be calculated as follows:

S _W = (P _{Owners with mortgages} * S _{Owners with mortgages} * SPM _{Owners with mortgages})

+(P _{Owners without mortgages} * S _{Owners without mortgages} * SPM _{Owners without mortgages})

+(P _Renters * S _Renters * SPM _Renters)

where

S _W = weighted average of shelter share in SPM threshold

P = weighted share distribution of consumer units by housing tenure

S = shelter component share of SPM threshold for housing group

SPM = SPM threshold for housing group

Research Papers

• Alternative Poverty Measurement for the U.S.: Focus on Supplemental Poverty Measure Thresholds (PDF)
  Bureau of Labor Statistics Working Papers 510. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics. September, 2018.


• Controlling for Prices before Estimating SPM Thresholds and the Impact on SPM Poverty Statistics (PDF)
  Society of Government Economists. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Juan D Munoz Henao, Bureau of Labor Statistics. April 19, 2018.


• Varying Economies of Scale in Housing: The Impact on Poverty Statistics (PDF)
  Society for the Study of Economic Inequality. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trudi Renwick, U.S. Census Bureau. February 15, 2017.


• Changing the Housing Share of Poverty Thresholds for the Supplemental Poverty Measure: Does Consumer Unit Size Matter? (PDF)
  Southern Economics Association. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trudi Renwick, U.S. Census Bureau. November 19, 2016.


• Supplemental Poverty Measure Thresholds and Noncash Benefits (PDF)
  The Supplemental Poverty Measure Workshop, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, April 26, 2016. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.


• Consistency in Supplemental Poverty Measurement: Adding Imputed In-Kind Benefits to Thresholds and Impact on Poverty Rates for the United States (PDF)
  Joint Statistical Meetings, Seattle, WA, August 9, 2015. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.


• The Supplemental Poverty Measurement: Adding Imputed In-Kind Benefits to Thresholds and Impact on Poverty Rates for the United States (PDF)
  Sixth ECINEQ Meeting, July 6, 2015. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.


• The Supplemental Poverty Measure Under Alternate Treatments of Medical Out-of-Pocket Expenditures (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau. December 30, 2013.


• The Supplemental Poverty Measure: A Joint Project between the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (PDF)
  Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. June 8, 2012.


• Supplemental Poverty Measure Thresholds: Imputing School Lunch and WIC Benefits to the Consumer Expenditure Survey Using Current Population Survey (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Charles Hokayem, Census Bureau. July 2012.


• Supplemental Poverty Measure Thresholds: Imputing Noncash Benefits to the Consumer Expenditure Survey Using Current Population Survey-Parts I and II (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Charles Hokayem, Census Bureau. September 2011.


• The Supplemental Poverty Measure: Examining the Incidence and Depth of Poverty in the U.S. Taking Account of Taxes and Transfers (PDF)
  Kathleen Short, Census Bureau. June 2011.


• Supplemental Poverty Measure Thresholds: Laying the Foundation (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2010.


• Setting and Updating Modern Poverty Thresholds (PDF)
  BLS Working Papers. March 2010.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. David Betson, University of Notre Dame.


• Housing and Poverty Thresholds: Different Potions for Different Notions (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. David Betson, University of Notre Dame. 2010.


• Note on Standard Errors and Other Relevant Statistics of Experimental Poverty Thresholds Produced at the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 2006 to 2008 (PDF)
  BLS Working Papers. March 2010.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Identifying the Poor: Poverty Measurement for the U.S. from 1996 to 2005 (PDF)
  The Review of income and wealth, Volume 56, Issue 2, pages 237-258, June 2010.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.


• A Note on the Movement in Median FCSU Expenditures from 2006 to 2007 (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2009.


• Reconciling User Costs and Rental Equivalence: Evidence from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey (PDF 1.1 MB)
  Thesia I. Garner and Randal Verbrugge, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2008.


• Creating a Consistent Poverty Measure over Time Using NAS Procedures: 1996-2005 (PDF)
  BLS Working Papers. April 2008.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.


• Comparing Approaches to Value Owner-Occupied Housing Using U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey Data (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Uri Kogan, Northwestern University.


• What Do We Know About the Value of Owner Occupied Housing Services? Rental Equivalence and Other Approaches (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau. Uri Kogan, Northwestern University.


• Developing a New Poverty Line for the USA: Are There Lessons for India? (PDF)
  BLS Working Papers. March 2005.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.


• Personal Assessments of Minimum Income and Expenses: What Do They Tell Us about 'Minimum Living' Thresholds and Equivalence Scales? (PDF)
  BLS Working Papers. March 2005.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.


• The Role of Housing in Developing Poverty Thresholds 1993-2003 (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2005.


• Experimental poverty measures: accounting for medical expenditures (PDF)
  Monthly Labor Review, Volume 125, No. 8. August 2002.
  Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Owner-Occupied Shelter in Experimental Poverty Measures (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau. 2001.


• Report on Experimental Poverty Measures 1990 to 1997 (PDF)
  Kathleen S. Short and John Iceland, Census Bureau. Richard Bavier, Office of Management and Budget. Thesia I. Garner and Patricia Rozaklis, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Donald J. Hernandez, SUNY at Albany. 2001.


• Experimental poverty measure for the 1990s (PDF)
  Monthly Labor Review, Volume 121, No. 3. March 1998.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau. Stephanie Shipp, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Charles Nelson, Census Bureau. Geoffrey Paulin, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• An experimental Consumer Price Index for the poor (PDF)
  Monthly Labor Review, Volume 119, No. 9. September 1996.
  Thesia I. Garner, David S. Johnson, and Mary F. Kokoski, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• "Is Everything Relative?" The Role of Equivalence Scales in Poverty Measurement (PDF)
  David M. Betson, University of Notre Dame.

Conference Presentations

• Moving to the Median and Expanding the Estimation Sample: The Case for Changing the Expenditures Underlying SPM Thresholds (PDF)
  Southern Economics Association. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Liana Fox, U.S. Census Bureau. November 20, 2018.


• Controlling for Prices before Estimating SPM Thresholds and the Impact on SPM Poverty Statistics (PDF)
  Society of Government Economists. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Juan D Munoz Henao, Bureau of Labor Statistics. April 20, 2018.


• Moving to the Median and Expanding the Estimation Sample: The Case for Changing the Expenditures Underlying SPM Thresholds (PDF)
  Statistics FCSM 2018 Research and Policy Conference. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Liana Fox, U.S. Census Bureau. March 7-9, 2018.


• Varying the Economies of Scale in Housing: Impact on Supplemental Poverty Measure Statistics (PDF)
  Seventh Meeting of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, New York, NY. Jul. 17-19, 2017.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, U.S. Census Bureau.


• Alternative Poverty Measurement for the U.S.: Focus on Supplemental Poverty Thresholds (PDF)
  Western Economic Association 13th International Conference, Santiago, Chile. Jan. 3-6, 2017.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trudi Renwick, U.S. Census Bureau.


• Changing the Housing Share of Poverty Thresholds for the Supplemental Poverty Measure: Does Consumer Unit Size Matter? (PDF)
  Southern Economics Association. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trudi Renwick, U.S. Census Bureau. November 19, 2016.


• Supplemental Poverty Measurement (SPM) Thresholds and a Missing Data Problem (PDF)
  6th Annual BLS-Census Workshop on Empirical Research using BLS-Census data, Washington, DC, June 6, 2016. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• SPM Thresholds: Imputing Subsidies to the Consumer Expenditure Survey for Poverty Measurement (PDF)
  Society of Government Economists Annual Conference, Washington, DC, May 13, 2016. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Supplemental Poverty Measure Thresholds and Noncash Benefits (PDF)
  The Supplemental Poverty Measure Workshop, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, April 26, 2016. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Measuring Medical Expenses: MOOP in Thresholds vs. MOOP Subtractions (PDF)
  Measuring Poverty in the 21st Century Conference Stanford Center on Poverty & Inequality, Stanford, CA, March 11, 2016. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• The Rationale for the Current Poverty Threshold (PDF)
  Measuring Poverty in the 21st Century Conference Stanford Center on Poverty & Inequality, Stanford, CA, March 11, 2016. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Supplemental Poverty Measure Thresholds: Imputing In-Kind Government Transfers from CPS Public Use Data to CE (PDF)
  Eastern Economic Association Annual Meetings, Washington, DC, February 26, 2016. Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.


• The Supplemental Poverty Measurement: Adding Imputed In-Kind Benefits to Thresholds and Impact on Poverty Rates for the United States (PDF)
  Joint Statistical Meetings, Seattle, WA, August 9, 2015.Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.


• Supplemental Poverty Measurement Thresholds: Research at the BLS (PDF)
  APDU Annual Conference, Rosslyn, VA. Sep. 17, 2014.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• The Supplemental Poverty Measure Under Alternate Treatments of Medical Out-of-Pocket Expenditures (PDF)
  Allied Social Science Association (ASSA) Meetings, Philadelphia, PA. Jan. 4, 2014.
  Thesia I. Garner and Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.


• Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM): Threshold Issues (PDF)
  Brookings/Census Bureau Meetings on Improved Poverty Measurement, Washington, D.C. Nov. 7, 2011.
  Thesia I. Garner and Marisa Gudrais, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Supplemental Poverty Measure Thresholds: Laying the Foundation (PDF)
  Allied Social Science Association Annual Meetings, Denver, CO. Jan. 8, 2011.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Moving to a Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM): Research on Thresholds for 2008 (PDF)
  Southern Economics Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA. Nov 10, 2010.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Housing and Poverty Thresholds: Different Potions for Different Notions (PDF)
  Midwestern Economics Association Annual Meeting, Evanston, IL. Mar 20, 2010.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. David Betson, University of Notre Dame.


• Setting and Updating Modern Poverty Thresholds (PDF)
  Annual Meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA), Atlanta, GA. Jan 3, 2010.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. David Betson, University of Notre Dame.


• Poverty Threshold Alternatives/Choices (PDF 1.6 MB)
  Brookings/Census Bureau Conference on Improved Poverty Measurement. Oct 20, 2009.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• National Academy of Sciences (NAS)-Based Poverty Thresholds: Details of Alternatives and Choices in Specification (PDF)
  Joint Statistical Meetings, Washington, DC. Aug 3, 2009.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Reconciling User Costs and Rental Equivalence: Evidence from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey (PDF)
  Annual Meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, San Francisco, CA. Jan 4, 2009.
  Thesia I. Garner and Randal Verbrugge, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Accounting for Housing Services in Consumption and Income (PDF)
  ASSA-SGE Annual Meetings, New Orleans, LA. Jan 6, 2008.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sylvester Young, International Labour Organization.


• Comparing Approaches to Value Owner-Occupied Housing Using U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey Data (PDF)
  ASSA-SGE Annual Meetings, Chicago, IL. Jan 7, 2007.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Uri Kogan, Northwestern University.


• What Do We Know About the Value of Owner-occupied Housing Services? Rental Equivalence and Other Approaches (PDF)
  Annual Meeting of the Southern Economics Association, Charleston, SC. Nov 18, 2006.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau. Uri Kogan, Northwestern University.


• The Role of Housing in Poverty Thresholds: 1993-2003 (PDF)
  Annual Meeting of the Southern Economics Association, Washington, DC. Nov 19, 2005.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Developing Poverty Thresholds (PDF)
  JSM, Social Statistics Section, Minneapolis, MN. Aug 10, 2005.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.


• Incorporating the Value of Owner-Occupied Housing in Poverty Measurement (PDF)
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau. 2004.


• Owner-Occupied Shelter in Experimental Poverty Measurement with a ?Look? at Inequality and Poverty (PDF)
  Southern Economics Association Conference, Tampa, FL. Nov 18, 2001.
  Thesia I. Garner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kathleen S. Short, Census Bureau.

 

Last Modified Date: November 20, 2018