Martin Ravallion et al —Alongside rising top incomes, the level of living of America’s poorest has fallen

When the poorest gain, the lower bound, or ‘floor’, of the distribution of living standards rises. Using microdata spanning the last 30 years, this column argues that the floor in the US has been sinking, alongside rising top incomes. The floor would have fallen further without public spending on food stamps, which helped protect the poorest in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

vox.eu
Alongside rising top incomes, the level of living of America’s poorest has fallen

Martin Ravallion, Edmond D. Villani Chair of Economics, Georgetown University; Dean Jolliffe, Lead Economist, Development Economics Data Group, World Bank; Juan Margitic, Ph.D. candidate in Economics, Georgetown University