Volume 12, Number 1 (Winter) 1977
Vickery, Clair. 1977. "The Time-Poor: A New Look at Poverty." Journal of Human Resources 12(1):27-48.
If the minimal nonpoor level of consumption requires both money and household production, then the official poverty standards do not correctly measure household needs. Any income-support program that corrects for money differences but not for time differences across households will discriminate against households with only one adult. Furthermore, such programs will provide financial incentives for households to form in certain ways. This paper sets up a two-dimensional poverty definition and then shows how this standard can be used to define voluntary versus involuntary poverty.
The author is Assistant Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley. This paper benefited from comments made on an earlier draft by Barbara Bergmann, Nancy Chodorow, Frances Flanagan, Gillian Garcia, Aaron Gordon, Mel Jameson, Theodore Keeler, Harold Wilensky, Michael Wiseman, and Lloyd Ulman. Cynthia Rence provided invaluable assistance. Financial support was provided by the U.S. Department of Labor under Research Grant No. 72-06-74-04 and the Institute of Industrial Relations. Since grantees conducting research projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express their judgment freely, this paper does not necessarily represent the official opinion or policy of the Department of Labor. The author is solely responsible for its contents.
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