Changing the poverty measure: Pitfalls and potential gains

In 1992 yet another attempt was begun to revise the measure, with a view to either replacing it or supplementing it with other indicators of destitution in the nation. With the support of the Bush administration, a panel was selected by the National Academy of Sciences to review the official measure.' The mandate of the panel is to examine most of the issues underlying the setting of poverty thresholds, including determining standards of need, measuring economic resources, and deciding upon appropriate equivalence scales, accounting periods, and geographic differences in the cost of living.