The “Inability to be Self‐Reliant” as an Indicator of Poverty: Trends for the U.S., 1975–97

In this paper we present a new concept of poverty, Self‐Reliant poverty, which is based on the ability of a family, using its own resources, to support a level of consumption in excess of needs. This concept closely parallels the “capability poverty” measure that has been proposed by Amartya Sen. We use this measure to examine the trend and composition of the Self‐Reliant poor population from 1975 to 1997. We find that Self‐Reliant poverty has increased more rapidly over this period than has official poverty. Families considered to be the most vulnerable—those headed by minorities, single women with children, and individuals with low levels of education—have the highest levels of Self‐Reliant poverty. However, these groups have also experienced the smallest increases in poverty. Conversely, families largely thought to be economically secure—those headed by whites, married men with children, and highly educated individuals—have the lowest levels of Self‐Reliant poverty, but have experienced the largest increases in poverty. We also find that the Self‐Reliant poor is increasingly composed of vulnerable groups relative to the composition of the official poor. The labor market, demographic, and policy sources of the divergent trends in Self‐Reliant and official poverty, and of the gender, race and family structure changes in poverty rates are explored.