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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Day: July 9, 2010

US Economic Data and Poverty Measurement

Special Report: U.S. data dogs on quest for sexier statistics, By Emily Kaiser, July 6, 2010, ABC News: “Alan Krueger can wax poetic about data — literally. The top economic adviser to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Krueger quoted poet Carl Sandburg in an 84-page research paper he co-authored proposing a new database to measure how people spend their time in order to understand what makes the economy tick. ‘Time is the coin of your life,’ Sandburg wrote. ‘It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.’ Before he was appointed Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy last year, Krueger was a scholar whose passion was time use studies. Now he is in a position to bring this type of information into economic policy decisions in Washington. The United States is deluged with economic data, yet the figures cannot conclusively answer even the most fundamental questions: Is the recession really over? Are people living better? Is government serving its citizens well? Inside the corridors of power, the nerds are stirring. A handful of data-loving economists in key positions at Treasury, the Commerce Department and the White House are pushing for alternative measures to provide a clearer picture of how well the economy is working. The interest is more than just academic. U.S. economic data moves stock markets, drives public policy, and can even swing a presidential election…”

High-Poverty Schools and Free Lunch Programs

Federal government eying free lunches for all students in high-poverty areas, rules for vending machines, By Dave Murray, July 8, 2010, Grand Rapids Press: “The federal government could soon be paying for lunch for entire communities of children under a new plan in the U.S. House of Representatives. Christina A. Samuels of Education Week reports that the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010 would allow schools in high-poverty areas to be covered under a ‘community eligibility’ option that allows free meals to all students without the traditional paperwork to determine eligibility. That would mean free meals for an extra 20 percent of students in Grand Rapids, where eight of 10 students already meet income levels to qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The districts provides students who are eligible for reduced-price lunches to get them at no cost, using money from a surplus in the lunch program’s account. But Samuels said there are more far-reaching effects, including establishing nutritional standards for foods served outside the cafeteria, such as in vending machines…”

Mobile Internet and the Digital Divide

  • Can mobile phones narrow the digital divide?, By Omar L. Gallaga, July 3, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “Jared Esquivel has had his new cell phone, a white Nokia Nuron, for only a week. But it’s the fifth one he’s owned since he was 10 years old. Jared is 16. The Travis High School student uses the phone to text family members, check in constantly on Facebook and view World Cup scores on ESPN’s mobile website. His family’s T-Mobile account includes phones for his sister, mother, father and grandmother. Most of them are enabled for unlimited Web access and texting. When Jared and his 13-year-old sister both need to use the family’s aging computer for homework, their mother, Juanita Esquivel, sends one of them to the mobile Web. ‘One of them would be up until 2 in the morning because the other one was sitting there using their computer,’ Juanita said. ‘I eventually was like, ‘Just use your phone!” The country has been swept up into an intoxicating romance with cell phones, especially smart phones such as Apple ‘s iPhone 4, with 1.7 million units sold in its first three days on the market. A global study by research firm Gartner Inc. suggests that by as soon as 2013, mobile devices will overtake personal computers as the most common way people access the Internet. But nowhere in the U.S. is the shift from desktop and laptop computers to cell phones making as much of an impact as in Latino households like Jared’s or in African American and low-income households, in which the cell phone is often the primary tool used to get online…”
  • Pew study finds rapid increase in mobile Internet use by low-income Americans, By Matt Hamblen, July 9, 2010, Computerworld: “Wireless access to the Internet has long been seen as a potential economic bridge for disadvantaged groups in those regions of the world that lack a wired infrastructure. For example, in poorer countries like Haiti, where landlines are limited, three mobile service providers have moved to widely offer the ability for cell phone users to complete wireless banking and e-commerce transactions. Some observers note that low-income groups in the U.S. can also gain profound benefits from wireless access by using some key applications. This week, the Pew Research Center in Washington said that a survey of 2,252 adults over 18 in April and May found that low-income groups in the U.S. are now the fastest adopters mobile Web devices. The survey found that 46% of households earning less than $30,000 a year are wireless Internet users. That lowest income group surveyed was the fastest growing — up by 11 percentage points from 35% in April 2009…”