Publications : Reports & Papers
Determinants of Asset Building (Series/Poor Finances: Assets and Low Income Households)Author(s): Sondra Beverly,
Michael Sherraden,
Min Zhan,
Trina R. Williams-Shanks,
Yunju Nam,
Reid CramerThis report 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 also reviews empirical evidence that supports or challenges this framework.
| Posted: April 15, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
The Implications of Career Lengths for Social Security (Series/The Retirement Project Discussion Papers)Author(s): Melissa Favreault,
C. Eugene SteuerleGrowing fiscal pressures and increasing life expectancy have prompted calls to raise retirement ages. Some fear this change might harm long-career, lower-wage workers. Tying retirement benefit eligibility to years of service might protect low-wage workers who start their careers early. But higher disability rates and greater employment volatility could offset lower-wage workers’ early labor force starts. Using survey data matched to administrative records, we describe how work histories vary by gender, education, and other characteristics. We find that years of service are not likely to effectively protect the lowest-wage workers, as those with the least education also work the least.
| Posted: April 09, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Self-Employment and Economic Mobility (Research Report)Author(s): Signe-Mary McKernan,
Harold SalzmanSelf-employment has held out the promise of economic mobility to generations of Americans. However, it is unclear whether the success stories of self-made men and women represent common experiences or exceptional cases. A more nuanced understanding of the contemporary experiences, outcomes, and impact of self-employment on mobility is necessary to properly evaluate the contribution self-employment makes to economic mobility in the U.S. population. This review describes the mechanisms by which self-employment may have mobility outcomes different from standard employment, paying particular attention to the substantial differences in self-employment effects across income, race, and gender subgroups. (Review 9 of 11.)
| Posted: April 03, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
How Much Does the Federal Government Spend to Promote Economic Mobility and for Whom? (Research Report)Author(s): Adam Carasso,
Gillian Reynolds,
C. Eugene SteuerleThis report tallies all federal spending and tax subsidies aimed at promoting the economic mobility of Americans for 1980, 2006, and 2012. This first effort at defining a mobility budget--$746 billion in 2006--reaches two major conclusions: (1) poor and lower-income households owe little or no tax and so are excluded from the bulk of economic mobility programs, which are often delivered in the form of tax subsidies; and (2) while these households do benefit from many other federal programs, those programs generally are not aimed at promoting mobility--and sometimes even discourage it. Furthermore, under current law, mobility enhancing programs targeted to toward lower income households would decline as a share of GDP from 2006 to 2012, while those targeted to the better off would increase over the same period.
| Posted: February 04, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
The Balance Sheets of Low-Income Households: What We Know About Their Assets and Liabilities (Series/Poor Finances: Assets and Low Income Households)Author(s): Adam Carasso,
Signe-Mary McKernanThis report synthesizes current research and other available information on the assets and liabilities of low-income households into a variety of portraits. These data allow practitioners and researchers to begin to form a comprehensive representation of the balance sheets of low-income households and sets the stage for future research and policy discussion around the finances of low-income households.
| Posted: January 07, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
