steve
On Fri, 3 Sep 1999, Max Sawicky wrote:
> chang:
> >> Why do economists have no other standard of measure indicating the
> living
> standards of poor people?
>
> We do. Plenty of them. If you want references,
> one place to start is with an intermediate text
> on public finance.
>
> There is data on incomes by income class and many
> other characteristics reported by the Census. There
> is research on non-monetary types of income received
> by the poor. There are measures before taxes, after
> taxes, and after taxes-minus-transfers. There are
> various measures of income inequality.
>
> I'd be surprised to find an introductory text which
> does not make clear the distinction between GDP and
> well-being, or between GDP and the condition of the
> poor. The use of GDP in political debate as a welfare
> indicator is another matter, but this thread is getting
> ridiculous.
>
> mbs
>
>