Poverty-alleviation programs like food stamps (SNAP), Social Security, and other "welfare" programs are broadly effective at reducing poverty, a new study from University of Chicago researchers found.
The study, performed by researchers Bruce Meyer and Derek Wu, conducted a more comprehensive analysis than most studies, because it used administrative data from the programs' payment records, not just survey data of recipients from the Census Bureau.
[...] For the elderly, Wu said the research found that Social Security benefits "single-handedly slashes poverty by 75%." Social Security's overall effect on all poverty is also enormous, responsible for by far the largest poverty reduction among all these programs, the study said.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 29 2018, @01:36PM
Automation would have had little effect; aging population (falling cost of living) and steady GDP. Mass immigration has fucked all that up and will make Basic Income a political impossibility. [euronews.com] Look at the numbers of homeless in major cities and tell me mass destitution isn't already real, and the more people you invite the poorer everyone will be. [wikipedia.org]