In this video presentation David Mitchell from the Aspen Institute explains strategies for mitigating and preventing income volatility at the household level.   This presentation was given at the Prosper Canada Policy Research Symposium on March 9, 2018. Read the slide deck that accompanies...

This activity sheet is from Module 2 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources from Prosper Canada. Reading David's pay stub - a quiz. To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click...

Creating Communities Where We Live - A Good Practices Guide is a locally-driven community-based researched project conducted in Edmonton, Alberta, by e4c and the University of Alberta Community Service-Learning program. The project seeks to add to the knowledge and practice of community care around...

This brief examines the findings of three studies—one from The Pew Charitable Trusts and two commissioned by Pew with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation—that looked at the effect of asset limits on family finances and state and program costs and...

We present the results of a large field study exploring consumers’ use of the Reserve “set aside” feature on the American Express (the company) Serve prepaid card. The study aimed to address two key questions: 1) Can certain strategies encourage consumer saving behavior; and 2) Is saving...

As the work environment has evolved and jobs look more different, it is important to understand the impact of these changes on income—predictability, variability, and frequency—and how this affects the opportunity for mobility. Because of the complexity of income volatility, there is a unique...

Income volatility is increasing in the United States and presents a growing public health problem. This study examines associations of long-term income volatility  with incident cardiovascular disease and all-cause...

This is a study released by Insights on Canadian Society  based on 2016 Census data. Census information on immigration and income is used to better understand the factors associated with low income among senior immigrants. This study examines the factors associated with the low-income rate of...

This brief identifies policy solutions to help American families build savings to withstand emergencies that threaten their financial...

This report discusses the vulnerability of millions of people in the US who lack adequate emergency savings. A workplace-based solution—rainy day savings accounts— can potentially help workers with low savings weather financial...

This brief discusses the benefits that Children's Savings Accounts (CSAs) bring to help more families save for their children's education. Recommendations to federal policies in the United States are made for the purpose of helping families to start saving early to build greater savings and...

In early 2018, Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) began a pilot program, Enterprise Community Plus (EC+), to provide financial capability services to residents in two neighborhoods in New York City. Enterprise is a nonprofit housing developer seeking to create opportunity for low- and...

This report from Prosperity Now shows the importance of matched savings programs called 'Promise Accounts' which help families successfully save for their futures. They are especially important for households of color as compared to white households. Decreasing economic inequality and closing the...

Research conducted by agencies such as AFOA, Native Women’s Association of Canada, and various other Canadian entities, has identified the need for improved financial literacy education in Indigenous communities, particularly among youth and Elders. Such research reports are often equipped with...

This paper contributes to the literature on the state of household finances in Canada by constructing new indicators using Canadian microdata based on Canadian and international literature. Using data from the Survey of Financial Security (1999, 2005 and 2012), and also the Canadian Financial...

This new research study: the 2016 UK Children and Young People’s Financial Capability Survey, is the first of its kind: a nationally representative survey of the financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of 4- to 17-year-olds and their parents, living in the UK. A total of 4,958 children and...

Without a Home, conducted by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness in partnership with A Way Home Canada, surveyed 1,103 youth experiencing homelessness across Canada. Youth in 42 different communities and nine of the 10 Canadian provinces, as well as Nunavut Territory, completed the self-report...

This is the second in a series of briefs produced by a partnership between the Aspen Institute’s Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC), Washington University’s Center for Social Development (CSD), and the Intuit Tax and Financial Center. The first brief highlighted new data on the...

In recent years, many states and some local governments implemented or expanded their own, supplemental Earned Income Tax Credit (EITCs). The expansion of state EITCs may have stemmed in large part from wanting to provide a more generous program than the federal program, because state EITCs...

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...

The federal government’s decision this year to cancel family income splitting and lower the annual contribution limit for tax-free savings accounts was driven largely by concerns about income inequality. Research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Parliamentary Budget Officer and...

There has been a resurgence of political interest in Canada in the rather old idea of a universal basic income, sometimes called a guaranteed annual income. Essentially, a basic income is a “no strings attached” transfer from government to individuals or families that can be simpler to...

This paper explores the relationship between financial capability, literacy, and a series of rich indicators of socio-demographics, psychosocial outcomes and well-being. The analysis conducted in this report builds on an existing large scale research project, UPSKILL, a pan-Canadian research and...

In general, this research highlights several ways in which confidence and knowledge may be linked with financial decision-making, and suggests that a one-size-fits-all approach to intervention is unlikely to reap dividends. Instead, interventions need to be informed by a better understanding of the...