Income poverty and material hardship: How strong is the association?

Material deprivation has been measured in a variety of ways, such as in terms of income shortfalls or the experience of different types of material hardship. This paper tests the extent to which indicators of hardship are associated with income poverty. Using a U.S. dataset with detailed income and poverty information observed over a few years, we find that timing, duration, and depth of poverty are all associated with material hardships (food insecurity, difficulty meeting basic needs, lack of consumer durables, housing problems, neighborhood problems, and fear of crime). Even very short spells of poverty have a measurable impact on material well-being, although not all types of well-being are affected in equal measures.