NewsPronto

 
The Times


.

USA Conversation

The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

Measuring poverty on a spectrum instead of an arbitrary line conveys a more accurate picture of inequality

  • Written by Olivier Sterck, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Oxford
imageDoes drawing a line make sense at any step of the way to wealth?fatido/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Michael W. Green, a Wall Street investor, created a buzz in late 2025 by arguing that the U.S. poverty line should be jacked up to US$140,000 for a family of four. Currently, a family of that size has to be eking by on $33,000 a year to qualify as...

Read more: Measuring poverty on a spectrum instead of an arbitrary line conveys a more accurate picture of...

More Articles ...

  1. Trump offered a restrictive deal to universities that almost all rejected – but the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education may not be entirely dead
  2. How does Iran go about selecting a new supreme leader? And who is in the running?
  3. Persian Gulf desalination plants could become military targets in regional war
  4. Researchers are combining drones and AI to make removing land mines faster and safer
  5. Why are some stars always visible while others come and go with the seasons?
  6. How Denver’s Northeast Park Hill community reduced youth violence by 75%
  7. Operational secrecy kept the US from making evacuation plans – and that means Americans in the Mideast could wait days
  8. Billions of dollars, decades of progress spent eliminating devastating diseases may be lost with undoing of USAID
  9. We designed an AI tutor that helps college students reason rather than give them answers
  10. Nearly a third of Pennsylvania gamblers are at risk of problem gambling − but few seek treatment
  11. 2025 was hotter than it should have been – 5 influences and a dirty surprise offer clues to what’s ahead
  12. GLP-1 drugs may fight addiction across every major substance, according to a study of 600,000 people
  13. Hezbollah − degraded, weakened but not yet disarmed − destabilizes Lebanon once again
  14. When unpaid cooking, cleaning and child care get a dollar value, income inequality in the US shrinks – but the gap has grown since 1965
  15. Trauma patients recover faster when medical teams know each other well, new study finds
  16. Housing First helps people find permanent homes in Detroit − but HUD plans to divert funds to short-term solutions
  17. Congress once fought to limit a president’s war powers − more than 50 years later, its successors are less willing to assert their authority
  18. AI and 3D printing help researchers create heat- and pressure-resistant materials for aerospace and defense applications
  19. With Artemis II facing delays, NASA announces big structural changes to the lunar program
  20. I study why zebrafish larva prefer to circle left or right, to understand how and why human brains encode right- and left-handedness
  21. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is having its #MeToo moment
  22. Front lines of humor: Dark humor voices Ukrainians’ hopes for victory
  23. Far from random, China’s global port network is clustering near the world’s riskiest trade routes
  24. CIA agents successfully executed a plan for regime change in Iran in 1953 – but Trump hasn’t revealed any signs of a plan
  25. Public defender shortage is leading to hundreds of criminal cases being dismissed
  26. Welcome to the ‘gray zone’ − home to nefarious international acts that fall short of outright conflict
  27. Stressed out by politics? You’re not imagining it, and research shows that social media is largely to blame
  28. Formerly incarcerated Black men say they’re ‘doing OK’ while trying to cope with depression and PTSD
  29. Are heroes born or made? Role models and training can prepare ordinary people to take heroic action
  30. A Plan B for space? On the risks of concentrating national space power in private hands
  31. The inspiring and tragic story of Mabel Stark, America’s most famous female tiger trainer
  32. Iran’s targeting of airport, ports and hotels in reaction to US strikes has forced Gulf nations onto front lines of a war they want no part in
  33. ‘Destruction is not the same as political success’: US bombing of Iran shows little evidence of endgame strategy
  34. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s killing plays into Shiite Islam’s reverence for martyrs, but not for all Iranians
  35. Why are so many statues naked? An art historian explains this tradition’s ancient roots
  36. What decades of research reveal about involuntary substance use treatment – and why evidence points elsewhere
  37. Free 10-minute online programs aimed at overcoming depression led to real improvements – new research
  38. The nation is missing millions of voters due to lack of rights for former felons
  39. Failure of US-Iran talks was all too predictable — but turning to military strikes creates dangerous unknowns
  40. Kansas revoked transgender people’s IDs overnight – researchers anticipate cascading health and social consequences
  41. Despite massive US attack and death of ayatollah, regime change in Iran is unlikely
  42. Iran will respond to US-Israeli strikes as existential threats to the regime – because they are
  43. Cuba’s speedboat shootout recalls long history of exile groups engaged in covert ops aimed at regime change
  44. Drug company ads are easy to blame for misleading patients and raising costs, but research shows they do help patients get needed treatment
  45. Tiny recording backpacks reveal bats’ surprising hunting strategy
  46. Nanoparticles and artificial intelligence can help researchers detect pollutants in water, soil and blood
  47. Bad Bunny says reggaeton is Puerto Rican, but it was born in Panama
  48. How the Seattle Seahawks’ sale will score a touchdown for charity 8 years after Paul Allen’s death
  49. There aren’t enough geriatricians – here’s how older adults can still get the right care
  50. Former Harvard president Summers’ soft landing after Epstein revelations is case study of economics’ trouble with misbehaving men