Poverty in the United States: An Analysis of its Measurement and the Long-Term Social and Economic Costs

This thesis examines the role of poverty in the United States and how it has impacted social and economic systems. It explores how U.S. poverty measurements developed in the 1960s may not be accurately measuring poverty now, and the ways in which these measures could be improved upon. This work also reviews literature on health and educational inequities stemming from socioeconomic class, and the role these play in long-term economic mobility. Finally, it analyzes how larger social institutions like mass incarceration and capitalism have developed around poverty, and the role they play in maintaining its prevalence today. This thesis finds that systemic barriers to economic mobility play a much larger role in the persistence of poverty than the actions and behaviors of individuals experiencing poverty. Without addressing poverty as such on a political level, poverty will continue to exist and persist in our society