Defining poverty: Measure by measure (The Economist)

Quoted: Timothy Smeeding of the University of Wisconsin, long a critic of the old measure, says that the SPM is a massive improvement. Some conservatives, however, are horrified. Most objectionable, according to Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, is that the new measure pegs household expenses at the 33rd percentile of American spending. This, he argues, makes the SPM a relative measure, rather than an absolute one. ?It measures inequality,? Mr Rector insists, adding that it will help advance a misguided anti-poverty agenda.