Marital disruption and poverty: The role of survey procedures in artificially creating poverty

The economic well-being of widows is a growing public concern. Though widowhood undoubtedly precipitates major changes in economic well-being we show that its role in increasing poverty especially in the short term may be seriously overstated by traditional data-collection methods. Using longitudinal [U.S.] data that allow us to follow women as wives and widows we find that the income of husbands is systematically excluded from the income reported by women widowed during or after the income reference year. This exclusion not only exaggerates the rise in poverty immediately following widowhood but also overstates the percentage of widows who leave poverty in the next reporting period. (EXCERPT)