The Incidence of Economic Stress in Affluent Areas

Devising More Accurate Measures

Bibliographic Data

ID2823310
AuthorsLeonard Gaines, Leonard M Gaines (State University of New York), Pearl M Kamer (State University of New York)
Year1994
Volume53
Issue2
Pages175-185
Publication date1994-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Economics and Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9246 • E-ISSN: 1536-7150
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1536-7150.1994.tb02584.x
OpenAlexW2099309884
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited17

Several governmental programs attempt to relieve economic stress for given segments of the population. Their success is often contingent upon how accurately economic distress in given areas can be identified and measured. The indicator most commonly used is the poverty rate or a related measure, such as the proportion of persons with incomes below 150% of the designated poverty threshold. However, these poverty thresholds are determined nationally and thus fail to take account of local income levels or variations in living costs. Nationally determined poverty thresholds obscure the existence of economic distress in affluent areas. This paper explores an alternate methodology that relates household income at the census tract level to county median household income in order to identify areas of significant poverty. The findings are then compared with official poverty statistics. The analysis is performed for Nassauand Suffolk Counties, two affluent suburban counties located on Long Island, adjacent to New York City. The data used came from the 1990 decennial census

Census · Census tract · Demographic economics · Distress · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Household income · Population · Poverty · Poverty rate · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Demography · Housing Market and Economics · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Psychology · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub