The Sequential Costs of Poverty: What Traditional Measures Overlook

Elizabeth A. Segal, Arizona State University
Laura R. Peck, Arizona State University

Abstract

This article proposes a new framework for describing well-being and hardship among low-income families. We describe previously unmeasured costs of being poor as latent, those costs that are hidden and not counted in other poverty measures, and sequential, those costs that are consequential and have subsequent cost implications. Using data from in-depth interviews with cash assistance recipients and working poor heads of household, we explore latent and sequential costs of poverty related to health. Families experience a wide variety of latent and sequential costs associated with their dental, vision, and general health needs.