(WITHDRAWN) Multidimensional Poverty in New York City before and during the Covid-19 Crisis

Background: Research on poverty has often focused on monetary measures, based on income or consumption expenditures. Money of course matters. Income and expenditures affect non-monetary aspects of wellbeing such as health. At the same time, a consideration of the multidimensional poverty or multiple deprivations (e.g. lack of health insurance, unemployment, low income) is important in capturing the struggles experienced by families, especially during crises. In the context of the covid-19 crisis, when families face multifaceted challenges, measuring multidimensional poverty is important.

Methods: Using unique longitudinal data, this paper will assess multiple deprivations experienced by families in New York City before the covid-19 crisis and during the covid-19 crisis if the data is available by then. We will use the New York City (NYC) Longitudinal Study of Wellbeing or “Poverty Tracker”. It is a survey of about 2,300 New York City residents. Its objective is to provide a multidimensional and dynamic understanding of disadvantage in NYC. Our multidimensional poverty measure will be based on the Alkire and Foster method. As New York City was a hot spot of the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S., we expect to find large increases in multidimensional poverty in the period after the crisis. Our hypothesis is that increases in multidimensional poverty in the period after the crisis are higher than increases in income poverty.

Results: The paper measures deprivations at least in the following dimensions: (i) income poverty, using a measure based on the new Supplemental Poverty Measure; (ii) adult health problems; (iii) economic insecurity measured by food insecurity, housing hardship, lack of health insurance and out of pocket medical expenditures; (iii) health problems and (iv) neighborhood pollution. We estimate overall levels of multiple deprivations and for key sub-populations (i.e. by race, ethnicity, disability).

Conclusions/Implications: Using unique longitudinal data, we assess multiple deprivations experienced by families in New York City before and during the covid-19 crisis. Measuring multidimensional poverty before and during the covid-19 crisis can help inform policies as well as target social services and benefits.