I'm not an economist.. I imagine there are papers with better data, but I would have to spend some time trying to find them. I did come by this article which d

I'm not an economist.. I imagine there are papers with better data, but I would have to spend some time trying to find them. I did come by this article which deals with the same question: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/09/measuring-poverty-income-vs-spending.html http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/09/measuring-poverty-inc... http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/06/family-income-v.html http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/06/fam... If income volatility has increased, it could explain why the spending-income gap is so wide, and why they (poor) spend more on education (retraining to re-enter the workforce). Maybe try asking EconTalk (podcast of economics topics).. Sounds like something he would find interesting, and he often takes questions and makes episodes out of them. http://www.econlib.org/library/contact.html http://www.econlib.org/library/contact.html