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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Yahoo Finance reports [yahoo.com]

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.

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