This is a brief on the cost of financially insecure families to Chicago, in terms of cost of eviction and unpaid bills. The financial health of cities depends on financially secure residents. When families have little to no savings and experience a disruption in their income or expenses, bills may...

This paper has two main goals. First, we provide a review of 38 studies on the relationship between assets and children’s educational attainment. Second, we discuss implications for Child Development Accounts (CDAs) policies. CDAs have been proposed as a potentially novel and promising asset...

This report analyzes the Canadian experience with education savings programs, as the US moves towards more comprehensive Children's Savings Account...

In this paper, we examine the relationship between children’s small-dollar savings accounts and college enrollment and graduation. We find that LMI children may be more likely to enroll in and graduate from college when they have small-dollar savings accounts with money designated for school. An...

Reimagining financial aid to include asset accumulation for those currently disadvantaged has the potential to meet one of our most critical challenges: equipping enough students to succeed in college education to power future societal economic prosperity, at a cost individual students and our...

In this paper it is suggested that Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs) are an investment that may embody the meritocratic values that Americans have for so long professed, values that demand that effort and ability decide why one person succeeds and another fails. More specifically, it is...

This paper presents quantitative and qualitative evidence of the relationship between exposure to a community-based Children’s Savings Account (CSA) program and parents’ educational expectations for their children. First, we examine survey data collected as part of the rollout and...

Addressing the educational challenges facing disadvantaged children will require innovations that can create greater equality of opportunity, such that their innate talents and academic effort translate into meaningful access to college. Evidence points to differences in asset accumulation a part...

In most cases, allowable uses of CSAs are limited to higher education initially, with some allowance for homeownership, entrepreneurship, or other capital investment later. Although, more recent proposals for CSAs also include tiered structures so that children could access some savings while still...

Financial education plays an important role in guiding individuals to achieve their financial goals and contribute to the economic well-being of society as a whole. While the examination on the effectiveness of financial education has many factors to consider, the National Endowment for Financial...

This study examines the affect that an increase in household income, due to a government transfer unrelated to household characteristics, has on children's long-term outcomes. It is found that increased income increases children's educational...

Young adulthood is the life stage when the greatest increases in income and wealth typically occur, yet entering into this period during the Great Recession has put Millennials on a different trajectory. As a result, this generation will need to make very large gains in the years ahead to...

This article examines the mismatch between the political discourse around individual agency, education, and financial literacy, and the actual racial wealth gap. The authors argue that the racial wealth gap is rooted in socioeconomic and political structure barriers rather than a disdain for or...

This report aims to move beyond the empirically unsubstantiated “individual effort leads to economic success” paradigm, which focuses on purported racial differences with regards to effort in school and work. We illustrate that educational attainment, employment, and income cannot explain the...

The findings in this report from the National Asset Scorecard for Communities of Color (NASCC) survey reveal major disparities in wealth accumulation across various racial and ethnic groups in Los Angeles. Our analysis shows that with respect to types and size of household assets and debt, there...

The widening wealth gap in the United States is a worrisome sign that millions of families nationwide do not have enough in assets to offer better opportunities for future generations. On the basis of data collected using the National Asset Scorecard for Communities of Color (NASCC) survey, we...

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...

COVID-19’s effects have underscored the ways that racism, bias, and discrimination are embedded in health, social, and economic systems. Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people are experiencing higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and death, and people of color are also overrepresented in...

This report, “Determinants of Asset Building,” provides a policy-oriented conceptual framework that has the potential to explain saving and asset accumulation across the entire population and to account for the low levels of saving and asset accumulation in the low-income population. The report...

Women’s economic well-being has many contributing factors, principally current income. However, income alone may not provide a full picture of women’s current and future economic well-being. Other determinants of families’ and individuals’ economic well-being, such as assets, debts and net...