Question

In: Economics

40. The official poverty line in the United States is set A) equal to one-half the...

40. The official poverty line in the United States is set

A) equal to one-half the average income in the United States.

B) at three times the cost of the Department of Agriculture's minimum food budget.

C) at three times the cost of the Department of Housing's minimum housing allowance.

D) at the amount necessary to allow an individual to buy the same market basket of goods that the average urban wage earner can afford.

Solutions

Expert Solution

OPTION B

Poverty is measured by the number of people who fall below a certain level of income called the poverty line that defines the income needed for a basic standard of living.

The concept of official poverty line in the United States was given by Mollie Orshansky.

She found that the average family spent one-third of its income on food. She then proposed that the poverty line be the amount needed to buy a nutritionally adequate diet, given the size of the family, multiplied by three.

Hence the official poverty line in the United States is set at three times the cost of the Department of Agriculture's minimum food budget.


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