DOES THE CHOICE OF POVERTY INDEX MATTER IN PRACTICE

This paper addresses the following question: In an empirical investgation of poverty in the United States, is the choice of poverty index likely, in practice, to affect the results? The consistency of ten alternative poverty indices is examined using 1980 United States census data. The analysis suggests that most of the indices will provide consistent results in empirical investigations. © 1991 Kluwer Academic Publishers.