Driving Change Through
Policy-relevant Research
Poverty Solutions is a University of Michigan initiative that conducts policy-relevant research aimed at finding new ways to prevent and alleviate poverty and improve economic well-being. Explore our work and how you can get involved.
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What is poverty?
How to define and measure poverty is a matter of great debate. And this debate is important, because how we measure poverty is central to how we understand and improve well-being in our society.
At Poverty Solutions, we view poverty as the result of interlinked systems — like housing, education, labor markets — that don't work for people with low incomes. Such a systems approach puts the emphasis on structural, rather than individual, causes of poverty. Beyond the poverty line, we also consider economic well-being, which refers to people being able to afford to meet their basic needs and have enough savings to weather an emergency.
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How do we measure poverty?
Watch Amanda Nothaft, director of data & analysis at Poverty Solutions, speak about measures of poverty and how we use this data in our work.
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