SOCI 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Extreme Poverty, Foreign Born, The Takeaway
8 Jun 2018
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Lecture 5 (September 21st, 2017)
Poverty
! Measuring poverty in Canada
What is that dollar amount?
•!Canada – low income cut-off (LICO)
o!Poverty based primarily on 2 factors:
"!1) The size of the family and the size of the community
•!So I’m going to need more resources to have a certain standard of
living depending on where I live? do I have 3 kids or none? These will
be important factors to consider and this particular measure takes it
into account
"!2) Based on the average percentage of income spent on necessities (e.g., food,
housing, clothing)
•!Average Canadian family spends 35% of pre-tax income on necessities
•!Those families who spend 20% more than the average on necessities
(or 55% of income) are considered poor.
•!Is this more of an absolute or relative measure of poverty??
o!Relative – because of the size of the community, family, and this whole notion of the
average Canadian spends so much of their money on necessity
o!If you spend more than relatively speaking, you are poor – this is totally a relative
measure of poverty
•!Political actors make these determinations. If that’s the case, which it is, policy outcomes are
ideologically driven – they are core to how these decisions are made.
•!Who’s more incline to support an absolute measure of poverty? Right
•!Who’s more incline to support a relative measure of poverty? Left
! LICO, 2005
•!Breakdown of family size on one point
•!You see the scale goes up and down by how many
kids you have and where you live
! Measuring poverty in Canada (cont’): Market-basket measure (MBM)
•!In use since 2003
•!Based on an imaginary basket of market-priced goods and services
•!Considers the income needed to purchase items that are placed in the basket
o!Shoving things in this basket and determine how much does a person need from the
elements inside the basket. If they can’t afford what’s inside the basket, it means they
are poor
o!How much does it cost to buy the basket?
•!Basket tends to exclude all but the absolute essentials of bare survival
o!It’s focused disproportionately on just food and shelter
o!How much does it cost for a reasonably adequate diet? Minimum shelter? Cost of
living/housing…
o!It’s important to know that what goes in the basket varies – bureaucrats decide
•!What goes into the basket is determined by bureaucrats?
o!They decide what one needs to survive
•!Is this more of an absolute or relative measure of poverty?
o!More absolute
•!Tuition is not considered as a necessity
! Poverty in Quebec
•!This is really old
•!The only point of this: it produces a different dollar amount
threshold
o!Only people who make less than in this case, 11k$
dollars are poor
•!Whatever the formula is, the outcome is: more or less people
that are going to get social welfare from the government to
help them survive
! Measuring poverty in the U.S.
To compare poverty: create a standardized definition and then apply it to other countries
•!Poverty Threshold
o!Determined by the SSA in 1960.
"!Dated measure
o!Based on the cost of a basic nutritionally adequate diet multiplied by 3.
"!Just food! = absolute
"!Other than that, they are on their own – they can live on the streets but we
don’t want them to starve
o!Assume that the poor spend roughly 1/3 of their annual income on food
o!Adjusted annually for inflation.
"!Food costs more every year so it’s adjusted
o!In 2011, the poverty threshold for an individual was $10,890 and$18,530 for a family
of 3
o!Assumes that the concern is largely that everyone eats
"!Only care about food – don’t care about shelter or whether or not someone has
clothes on their back.
•!Extreme poverty is defined as a family income below ½ of the poverty threshold
o!That’s a special assumption
•!Many sociologists argue that poverty threshold should be set at ½ of the median income for
households ($27,445)
o!Average income of society – and if you make less than half of that, you’re poor
o!Poverty is defined as making less than half that the average person makes…
o!Purely relative measure – left.
! Problem with measure
Document Summary
What is that dollar amount: canada low income cut-off (lico) o poverty based primarily on 2 factors: These will be important factors to consider and this particular measure takes it into account. Lico, 2005: breakdown of family size on one point, you see the scale goes up and down by how many kids you have and where you live. Measuring poverty in canada (cont"): market-basket measure (mbm: based on an imaginary basket of market-priced goods and services, considers the income needed to purchase items that are placed in the basket. In use since 2003 o shoving things in this basket and determine how much does a person need from the elements inside the basket. Cost of living/housing o it"s important to know that what goes in the basket varies bureaucrats decide: what goes into the basket is determined by bureaucrats? o they decide what one needs to survive.
