Volume 26, Number 2 (Spring) 1991
Rodgers, John L. and Joan R. Rodgers. 1991. "Measuring the Intensity of Poverty Among Subpopulations: Applications to the United States." Journal of Human Resources 26(2):338-361.
This paper proposes an approach to measuring the intensity of poverty within a group, relative to that of the population to which the group belongs. A poverty intensity index is presented which is easy to interpret and satisfies a number of desirable properties. The intensity of poverty among racial and residential groups, in various geographical locations, is measured using 1980 United States Census data.
The authors are professors of economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. They would like to thank Barry Hirsch, Albert Link, and two anonymous referees for their comments on this paper. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning in October 1991 through 1994 from the authors at the following address: Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412.
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