This article addresses three related but distinct issues relevant to the valuation of
in-kind transfers. First, it shows that the census bureau's widely cited recipient value
approach substantially underestimates the true cash equivalent value of in-kind
transfers. Second, it shows that the true cash equivalent value of income can exceed
even the income value arrived at by adding the market value of in-kind transfers to
cash income. Third, it presents some reasons for preferring that income be measured
at its market value rather than at its cash equivalent value, at least when the goal
is identifying poverty status.
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