Multidimensional Poverty Among the Native- and Foreign-Born in the United States: Evidence from the 2010–2014 American Community Surveys

Abstract

We examine data from the 2010-2014 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year Public Use Microdata Sample files (U.S. Census, American Community Survey, 2010–2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2016) and employ the methodology of Alkire and Foster (Counting and Multidimensional Poverty Measurement. Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI), OPHI Working Paper No. 32, 2009) to measure multidimensional poverty in the United States. While our findings confirm the results of earlier studies, we also report considerable variation across native- and foreign-born residents of the U.S. and across immigrant home countries in terms of the incidence and intensity of deprivation and, thus, in Multidimensional Poverty Index values. Our econometric analysis identifies several factors that contribute to multidimensional poverty and, again, we examine variation in the determinants across both native- and foreign-born cohorts as well as across groupings of immigrants’ home countries that are based on relative incidence and intensity of deprivation.