Recipient Value and Market Value: How They Measure Up in Counting the Poor 1

Abstract

Between 1965 and 1986 noncash government benefits rose from $1,492 to $2,787 billion dollars. In this study the conceptual and empirical bases of the recipient value and market value approaches to valuing these benefits are examined. The major conclusion of the paper based on empirical data provided in Bureau of the Census publications is that both approaches yield results that are sufficiently anomalous as to cast grave doubt on their usefulness for determining who is poor.