Wealth and Poverty: The Effect of Poverty on Communities

TL;DR

This paper examines how poverty varies between high and low wealth communities, identifying key social issues and policy factors influencing poverty in the Bay Area and San Jose.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of poverty causes and effects in different communities, highlighting policy impacts and suggesting future interventions.

Findings

Low wealth communities have higher crime rates.

Higher teen birth rates in low wealth areas.

Renters face more cost burdens due to economic and regulatory factors.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the differences in poverty in high wealth communities and low wealth communities. We first discuss methods of measuring poverty and analyze the causes of individual poverty and poverty in the Bay Area. Three cases are considered regarding relative poverty. The first two cases involve neighborhoods in the Bay Area while the third case evaluates two neighborhoods within the city of San Jose, CA. We find that low wealth communities have more crime, more teen births, and more cost-burdened renters because of high concentrations of temporary and seasonal workers, extensive regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, minimum wage laws, and limited housing supply. In the conclusion, we review past attempts to alleviate the effects of poverty and give suggestions on how future policy can be influenced to eventually create a future free of poverty.