ABSTRACT
Most Americans believe that “a rising tide lifts all boats,” meaning that economic growth raises the incomes of the poor as well as the incomes of the middle class and the rich. The economy did operate like this from the end of World War II to the early 1970s. During this period, inflation-adjusted annual earnings increased rapidly for both less-educated and more educated workers, family incomes rose rapidly for every quintile in the income distribution, and poverty fell rapidly. Indeed, the official poverty for all persons fell from 22.4% in 1959 to 11.1 % in 1973. This period may, at least in retrospect, be regarded as a “golden age” of rising family 358incomes and falling poverty rates. The purpose of this chapter is to show how poverty rates have evolved as the golden age came to a close and as the Great Recession played out.
