- Joanna Y. Marks, Julia B. Isaacs, Timothy M. Smeeding, and Katherine A. Thornton
- May 2011
- WIPOV3-2011a
- Link to WIPovAntipovertyPolicies_May2011 (PDF)
On May 4, 2011, IRP released the third Wisconsin Poverty Report: Were Antipoverty Programs Effective in 2009? Using their new Wisconsin Poverty Measure, which takes a broader view of needs and resources than the official poverty measure, researchers examined need in 2009 and changes in economic security from 2008 to 2009.
“Our findings are dramatic: Despite the reduction in employment and earnings in 2009, our Wisconsin Poverty Measure reveals that antipoverty programs kept child poverty steady in our state between 2008 and 2009. Expanded tax credits and food assistance benefits, which we include but the official measure does not, offset a drop in family earnings and cash income in 2009 and kept scores of Wisconsin children out of poverty,” says Tim Smeeding, lead Wisconsin Poverty Project researcher, director of IRP, and La Follette School of Public Affairs faculty member.
Categories
Poverty Measurement, State & Local Measures, WI Administrative Data Core, Wisconsin Poverty Reports