This report examines data from the Federal Reserve System’s 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances to understand how the wealth of median Black, Latino and White families have changed since the findings of its previous survey were released in...
Using pooled data from the 2012 and 2015 waves of the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), this research finds that young adults who were required to take personal finance courses in high school were significantly less likely to borrow payday loans than their peers who were not. These...
This is a webinar on the connection between health and wealth. Discusses social determinants of health, effects of financial stress, racial background, child poverty, and program examples of support...
As of 2011, 43 percent of families endured swings of more than 25 percent. Such fluctuations, also called income volatility, make it difficult for families to plan, pay regular expenses, save, or pay down debt. But little research has investigated and compared the impact of changes in year-to-year...
By 2003, the savings and asset building field had achieved critical research and policy successes. However, some challenges it faced were the lack of a substantial presence of organizations of color in the field and the absence of experts of color at decision-making tables. Over the course of 11...
This overview paper broadly outlines the types of strategies being used to help people move up from poverty. It lays out basic categories for classifying such programs, explains the logic of various approaches, and offers some broad pros and cons of various types of interventions. The accompanying...
This brief is the fourth of a five-part series that highlights the need and opportunity for integrating financial capability services into social service programs. The goal of this integration is to improve overall financial outcomes that lead to financial security for low- and moderate-income...
This is the slide deck from a webinar by Community Action Partnership for the CFED, on the racial wealth divide and the challenge of wealth building for families of color in the United States. Racial Inequality has always had economic inequality at its foundation....
Most employment research focuses on the quantity of work, such as whether or not people are employed, the number of hours they work, and barriers to work. Which hours of the day employees must work has received less attention. This paper examines nonstandard work schedules within the confines of...
This brief examines the financial challenges confronting low-income older adults, with a focus on housing costs. It estimates the share of adults who have inadequate income, reports their income sources, and describes their spending patterns. Data come from the American Community Survey and the...
This report focuses on the role that policy design can have on closing the country’s unrelenting and unacceptable racial wealth divide. We utilize a new framework—The Racial Wealth Audit—launched jointly by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University (IASP) and Demos to...
The following profile presents data on the economic inequalities within Miami. These statistics may seem overwhelming. However, we with more information about the challenges of racial economic inequality, there is greater opportunity to identify best practices and policies that can address the...
The following profile presents data on the economic inequalities within New Orleans. These statistics may seem overwhelming. However, we know with more information about the challenges of racial economic inequality, there is greater opportunity to identify best practices and policies that can...
There is much evidence that the quality of the social determinants of health Canadians experience helps explain the wide health inequalities that exist among Canadians. How long Canadians can expect to live and whether they will experience cardiovascular disease or adult-onset diabetes is very much...
This is a brief presentation by Ray Boshara from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It shows data from the Survey of Consumer Finances "financial health scorecard." Results show the disparities in wealth for already vulnerable families, and differences by age, ethnicity, and education. No...
Financial literacy programs are fast becoming a key ingredient in financial policy reform worldwide. Yet, what is financial literacy exactly and what do we know of its effectiveness? This paper collects insights from the literature thus far and summarizes global evidence, on financial literacy, its...
In 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 43.1 million people, or 13.5 percent of the nation’s population, lived below the official poverty level. Although the poor were primarily children and adults who had not participated in the labor force during the year, 8.6 million individuals...
In 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 46.7 million people, or 14.8 percent of the nation’s population, lived below the official poverty level. Although the poor were primarily children and adults who had not participated in the labor force during the year, according to data from the...
Population health survey data are not routinely linked to specific health care organizations, limiting organizational capacity to assess performance improvements in relation to the observed risk and prevalence of differences in health. The lack of demographic information hinders the growth of...
Inclusive retirement savings policies build the means for a safe post‐work future and the chance to pass a little more stability on to the next generation, a goal often believed to be far out of reach for low‐ and moderate‐income families. While wages and the ability to cover day‐to‐day...
The rise of economic inequality has become a staple of policy debates and stump speeches. Less visible is the way the rise has altered the landscape of America’s urban neighborhoods. Two books should help change that. Matthew Desmond, an urban sociologist at Harvard, has delivered a jolt with...
Using a representative longitudinal survey of U.S. households, we find that household income became noticeably more volatile between the early 1970s and the late 2000s despite the moderation seen in aggregate economic activity during this period. We estimate that the standard deviation of...
What is the difference between those who move up from the bottom and those who don’t? Pew researchers investigated this question and found that a host of factors—including demographics such as education, race, and family employment—play a role in upward mobility. Additionally, Pew’s...
This is a short New York Times article on debt and the racial wealth gap - black Americans are more likely to experience debt issues than white...
This brief highlights new research on food assistance from the edited volume Income Volatility and Food Assistance in the United States, published in fall 2008 by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Income volatility, that is, periodic fluctuations in household income, has increased...