Topics: Economics and Personal Finances, Socioeconomic Class. 1  Richard Fry is a senior researcher focusing on economics and education at Pew Research Center. 2  Rakesh Kochhar is an associate director of research at Pew Research Center.
In the United States, the Census Bureau determines who is poor using an economic poverty measure, by calculating official poverty estimates using a set of dollar-value thresholds, or minimum amount of income needed to meet basic needs, that vary by family size and composition.
1 There is no social desirability bias, where the presence of others will lead us into uncharacteristic behavior. 2  We are low in self-monitoring, so we do not distract. 3  The attitude is strongly held and is around core beliefs.