In this working paper, Lawrence Buron, Robert Haveman, and Owen O'Donnell explore the major trends that have developed in the work force, including the rate of joblessness and the rise in part-time work, and whether these events were voluntary or involuntary. In addition, they look at the...

The source of the increased inequality in the distribution of male earnings has been the focus of much economic analysis. In this working paper, Robert H. Haveman and Lawrence Buron attempt to find the source of the increased inequality in the distribution of male earnings since the 1970s....

In this paper we study changes in the prevalence and composition of poverty in the United States over the 1973-1988 period, focusing on the first and last years. Over this period, official poverty rose from 23.6 million people (11.4 percent of the population) to 31.9 million (13.1 percent),...

The Wisconsin BadgerCare program, which became operational in July 1999, expanded public health insurance eligibility to families with incomes below 185 percent of the U.S poverty line (200 percent for those already enrolled). This eligibility expansion was part of a federal initiative known as...

The trend in national policy over the past two decades has emphasized self reliance and a smaller role for government in society. Given this ideological shift, the Official poverty measure, which is based on the premise that all families should have sufficient income from either their own...

Numerous studies of the determinants of children's attainments rely on observations of circumstances and events at age 14 as proxies for information over the entire childhood period. Using 21 years of panel data from the Michigan PSID on 825 children who were 14-16 years old in 1979, we evaluate...

The United States' official poverty measure defines the poor in terms of a family's actual, yearly cash income relative to an estimate of the income needed to sustain a minimally acceptable standard of living. An alternative definition, designed to reflect a family's ability to achieve economic...