The first step in addressing any problem is to understand its magnitude. In October, as Congress gridlocked over extending financial assistance to Americans, a study co-authored by TC economist Jordan Matsudaira found that 8 million people in the United States had fallen into poverty since May, driven by the expiration of the emergency CARES Act’s unemployment supplement of $600 per week. The report also revealed that “increases in monthly poverty rates have been particularly acute for Black and Hispanic individuals, as well as for children.”

Jordan Matsudaira

WORKING IN REAL TIME Jordan Matsudaira, Associate Professor of Economics & Education Policy, devised methodology for making high-frequency estimates of the poverty rate based on families’ monthly resources. (Photo: TC Archives)

Previous reports had been unable to provide real-time estimates of the number of people living in poverty because the government only releases official statistics once a year. The new study used methodology developed by Matsudaira to make high-frequency estimates of the poverty rate based on families’ monthly resources. “In a time of upheaval like we’re in right now, having a poverty-rate estimate from a full year ago, when the nation was at the peak of a historic economic expansion, is not providing policymakers with the information they need to respond to an evolving crisis,” said Matsudaira, Associate Professor of Economics & Education Policy and former Chief Economist on President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers. The study helped spur the new financial assistance legislation passed by Congress early in 2021.

[Editor’s note: In late Febrary, the Biden-Harris administration named Matsudaira Deputy Undersecretary of Education, with responsibility for higher education policy.]