Part I: Susan Mayer and Christopher Jencks, Part II: American Enterprise

In Part I of the following two-part viewpoint, Susan Mayer and Christopher Jencks contend that successful government programs such as Medicaid, food stamps, and low-income housing subsidies have improved the health and welfare of poor families. In Part II, the editors of the American Enterprise argue that the prevalence of poverty in America has been exaggerated because of an apparent overstatement of the cost of living as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The editors maintain that contrary to discouraging statistics, the quality of life has improved in America. Mayer is a professor of public policy at the University of Chicago. Jencks is a professor of public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. American Enterprise is a bimonthly magazine...