The Poverty Reduction of Social Security and Means-Tested Transfers

Bibliographic Data

ID4768151
AuthorsBruce D Meyer, Bruce Meyer (corresponding author), Derek Wu (0009-0005-9948-1071, Bruce D. Meyer is the McCormick Foundation Professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Derek Wu is a PhD student at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy)
Year2018
Volume71
Issue5
Pages1106-1153
Publication date2018-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndustrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0019793918790220
OpenAlexW2904879956
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited61

This article is the fourth in a series to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the ILR Review. The series features articles that analyze the state of research and future directions for important themes this journal has featured over many years of publication. Starting with Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data from 2008 to 2013, the authors link administrative data from Social Security and five large means-tested transfers-Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), public assistance (PA), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and housing assistance-to minimize errors within the SIPP data. Social Security cuts the poverty rate by a third-more than twice the combined effect of the five means-tested transfers. Among means-tested transfers, the EITC and SNAP have the largest effects. All programs except for the EITC sharply reduce deep poverty. The relative importance of these programs differs by family subgroup. SSI, PA, and housing assistance have the highest share of benefits going to the pre-transfer poor, whereas the EITC has the lowest. Finally, the SIPP survey data alone provide fairly accurate estimates for the overall population at the poverty line, though they understate the effects of Social Security, SNAP, and PA. Differences in effects are striking, however, at other income cutoffs and for specific family types

Current Population Survey · Demographic economics · Earned income tax credit · Economic growth · Economics · Food insecurity · Food security · Geography · Population · Poverty · Public assistance · Social Assistance · Social security · Sociology · Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program · Survey of Income and Program Participation · Transfer (computing) · Welfare · Computer Science · Demography · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Income, Poverty, and Inequality