Download or read book The Role of Institutions In Low income Households Saving Behavior written by Jami Curley and published by . This book was released on 2010-02 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Role of Institutions in the Saving Participation and Performance of Low income Households in Individual Development Accounts written by Jami Carol Curley and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Individual and Institutional Factors Related to Low Income Household Saving Behavior written by Stuart Heckman and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research sought to further understanding of factors related to low-income household saving behavior. Saving behavior, defined as whether a household spent less than income, was analyzed by applying institutional theory, which proposes that households' institutional environment has a substantial effect on financial decisions. Two logistic regression models were used to test the effects of variables on saving behavior; the first logit was based on the life cycle hypothesis and the second added noneconomic individual factors (i.e., social networks, financial literacy, and psychological variables) and institutional factors (i.e., access, incentives, and facilitation). Institutional factors, including the number of institutions used, credit access, and having an employer sponsored retirement plan, had significant effects even after controlling for the effect of variables based on the life cycle model, suggesting that promoting institutional access and facilitation - especially through employer-provided plans - may encourage saving behavior among low-income households.
Download or read book Can the Poor Save written by Michael Sherraden and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many policymakers argue that the best poverty policy not only provides cash to the poor for subsistence but also incentives and structures that encourage long-term social and economic improvement. As part of this, they make the case for Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), a new policy proposal designed to help the poor save and to build assets. This book explores IDAs to determine their effectiveness. IDAs are matched savings accounts targeted on low-income, low-wealth individuals. Savings in IDAs are used for home ownership, post-secondary education, small business development, and other purposes. Do IDAs work? If they do, for whom? And does how an IDA is designed determine savings outcomes? This volume is the first analysis of matched savings by the poor to use data from monthly bank statements. It comes at a critical time, as debate rages over the merits of individual social security accounts. IDAs also respond to policy that is becoming more asset based and less inclusive of the poor. The authors argue for the efficacy of IDAs to counter this tendency. They find that while savings outcomes vary among participants, no characteristics (such as low income or public assistance) preclude saving. They examine effects of IDA design (the match rate, savings targets, and the use of automatic transfer) on savings results and analyze factors that influence varying rates of saving and spending over time. They conclude that financial education and other support services, though costly, improve savings performance. To address the issue of cost they suggest a two-tier system of IDA design, one with broad access and simple services and the other with targeted access and intensive services. Can the Poor Save? offers a wealth of lessons to those interested in saving and asset accumulation among the poor. It not only breaks new ground in the scientific study of savings behavior, but also offers concrete, evidence-based recommendations to improve policies designed to encourage the poor to save and how to make such policies more inclusive.
Download or read book Striving to Save written by Margaret Sherrard Sherraden and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2010-05-25 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Striving to Save will inform and inspire social policy with its breakthrough approach in understanding how low-income families make ends meet while striving to make a better life for themselves and their families. Scholarly work in savings, debt, household finance, and behavior economics will benefit from this pioneering study that provides real-life context for some of the most important issues of our day." ---Tom Shapiro, Brandeis University "The central contribution of the book is to use original qualitative research to provide readers with a nuanced understanding of the financial difficulties facing low-income households, their financial decision-making processes, and their paths to saving and building assets over time. The book provides an essential corrective to the unidimensional view of poor households as unable and unwilling to save." ---Michael Barr, University of Michigan In Striving to Save, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden and Amanda Moore McBride examine savings in eighty-four working families with low incomes, including fifty-nine families who participated in a groundbreaking program of matched savings and financial education. In-depth interviews with these families, along with savings and survey data, shed light on saving in low-income households. The book concludes with recommended public policy approaches for increasing savings in households that are striving to save. Margaret Sherrard Sherraden is Professor of Social Work at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Amanda Moore McBride is Assistant Professor of Social Work at Washington University, St. Louis.
Download or read book A Comparison of Two Savings Measures written by Stuart J. Heckman and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through the application of the institutional theory of saving behavior, a framework is established for understanding determinants of savings among low-income households. Multiple survey years from the Survey of Consumer Finances were used to investigate the research questions through the use of means testing and logistic regression. Two different savings measurements were used: a broad measure and a narrow measure.
Download or read book Assets for the Poor written by Thomas M. Shapiro and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2001-05-17 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past three decades, average household wealth in the United States has declined among all but the richest families, with a near 80 percent drop among the nation's poorest families. Although the national debate about inequality has focused on income, it is wealth—the private assets amassed and passed on within families—that provides the extra economic cushion needed to move beyond mere day-to-day survival. Assets for the Poor is the first full-scale investigation into the importance of family wealth and the need for policies to encourage asset-building among the poor. Assets for the Poor shows how institutional mechanisms designed to encourage acquisition of capital and property favor middle-class and high-income families. For example, the aggregate value of home mortgage tax deductions far outweighs the dollar amount of the subsidies provided by Section 8 rental vouchers and public housing. Banking definitions of creditworthiness largely exclude minorities, and welfare rules have made it nearly impossible for single mothers to accumulate savings, let alone stocks or real estate. Due to persistent residential segregation, even those minority families who do own homes are often denied equal access to better schools and public services. The research in this volume shows that the poor do make use of the assets they have. Cash gifts—although small in size—are frequent within families and often lead to such positive results as homebuying and debt reduction, while tangible assets such as tools and cars help increase employment prospects. Assets for the Poor examines policies such as Individual Development Account tax subsidies to reward financial savings among the poor, and more liberal credit rules to make borrowing easier and less costly. The contributors also offer thoughtful advice for bringing the poor into mainstream savings institutions and warn against developing asset building policies at the expense of existing safety net programs. Asset-building for low-income families is a powerful idea that offers hope to families searching for a way out of poverty. Assets for the Poor challenges current thinking regarding poverty reduction policies and proposes a major shift in the way we think about families and how they make a better life. A Volume in the Ford Foundation Series on Asset Building
Download or read book Preparing for an Aging World written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2001-06-26 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aging is a process that encompasses virtually all aspects of life. Because the speed of population aging is accelerating, and because the data needed to study the aging process are complex and expensive to obtain, it is imperative that countries coordinate their research efforts to reap the most benefits from this important information. Preparing for an Aging World looks at the behavioral and socioeconomic aspects of aging, and focuses on work, retirement, and pensions; wealth and savings behavior; health and disability; intergenerational transfers; and concepts of well-being. It makes recommendations for a collection of new, cross-national data on aging populationsâ€"data that will allow nations to develop policies and programs for addressing the major shifts in population age structure now occurring. These efforts, if made internationally, would advance our understanding of the aging process around the world.
Download or read book The Financial Diaries written by Jonathan Morduch and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the groundbreaking U.S. Financial Diaries project (http://www.usfinancialdiaries.org/), which follows the lives of 235 low- and middle-income families as they navigate through a year, the authors challenge popular assumptions about how Americans earn, spend, borrow, and save-- and they identify the true causes of distress and inequality for many working Americans.
Download or read book Determinants of Saving Behavior and Individual Development Account Program Participation in Ohio written by Sara Jo Wackler DeMay and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: The main objective of this study is to identify the major variables that determine the rate of saving and Individual Development Account (IDA) program participation among low-income individuals across rural and urban locations in Ohio. Economic theory predicts that as household income increases, the amount saved should increase. Empirical evidence from previous studies of poor households, however, does not always support this theory. Therefore, for this study, two models are constructed that integrate elements from three theories of saving, namely economic, institutional, and psychological.
Download or read book Education Income and Human Behavior written by Francis T. Juster and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Institutions and Inclusion in Saving Policy written by Michael S. Barr and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The poor must save, not only to qualify for and pay off credit, but also for key purchases such as clothing for the start of a child's school year; life course events, such as births, weddings, and funerals; and emergencies, such as car repair, illness, or job loss. Recent applied research has contributed to our understanding of the potential importance of saving by low-income households. Yet saving by the poor is a largely overlooked topic in the United States, and public policy has largely ignored or marginalized saving policy for the poor. This is particularly striking given the recent rhetoric of the Bush administration about the ownership society. In this chapter we first develop an institutional theory of saving, which is provisional and in need of more empirical testing. We then explore in practice how existing institutions promote dis-saving among the poor. We also look at how policies to change these institutional structures could promote saving among these households. We also analyze current proposals that move in the opposite direction, largely benefiting the highest-income taxpayers whose net saving behavior is least likely to be influenced by the policies. Instead of focusing on additional saving proposals that benefit the upper end of the income scale, public policy should focus on building wealth among the least well-off. A sound policy would aim for inclusion of everyone in saving and asset accumulation.
Download or read book No Slack written by Michael S. Barr and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The financial crisis exposed unsavory results of interactions between low- and moderate-income households and alternative and mainstream financial institutions: overleveraged incomes, high cost for financial services, and lack of access to useful financial products that can cushion against economic instability. It revealed a financial services system that is not well designed to serve these households, leaving them without financial slack. Pivotal analysis, focusing on metropolitan Detroit's low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, examines household decision making processes, behaviors, and attitudes toward a full range of financial transactions during the subprime lending boom. The author advocates helping families seek financial stability in three primary ways: enhancing individuals' financial capability, using technology to promote access to financial products and services that meet their needs, and establishing strong protections for consumers.
Download or read book Towards Understanding Savings Behavior Among Low income Households in the United States written by Matthew A. Scogin and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Communities in Action written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-04-27 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Download or read book Household Saving Behavior written by Annamaria Lusardi and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Individuals are increasingly in charge of their own financial security after retirement. But how well-equipped are individuals to make saving decisions; do they possess adequate financial literacy, are they informed about the most important components of saving plans, do they even plan for retirement? This paper shows that financial illiteracy is widespread among the U.S. population and particularly acute among specific demographic groups, such as those with low education, women, African-Americans, and Hispanics. Moreover, close to half of older workers do not know which type of pensions they have and the large majority of workers know little about the rules governing Social Security benefits. Notwithstanding the low levels of literacy that many individuals display, very few rely on the help of experts or financial advisors to make saving and investment decisions. Low literacy and lack of information affect the ability to save and to secure a comfortable retirement; ignorance about basic financial concepts can be linked to lack of retirement planning and lack of wealth. Financial education programs can help improve saving and financial decision-making, but much more can be done to improve the effectiveness of these programs
Download or read book Handbook of Behavioral Economics Foundations and Applications 1 written by and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2018-09-27 with total page 749 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handbook of Behavioral Economics: Foundations and Applications presents the concepts and tools of behavioral economics. Its authors are all economists who share a belief that the objective of behavioral economics is to enrich, rather than to destroy or replace, standard economics. They provide authoritative perspectives on the value to economic inquiry of insights gained from psychology. Specific chapters in this first volume cover reference-dependent preferences, asset markets, household finance, corporate finance, public economics, industrial organization, and structural behavioural economics. This Handbook provides authoritative summaries by experts in respective subfields regarding where behavioral economics has been; what it has so far accomplished; and its promise for the future. This taking-stock is just what Behavioral Economics needs at this stage of its so-far successful career. Helps academic and non-academic economists understand recent, rapid changes in theoretical and empirical advances within behavioral economics Designed for economists already convinced of the benefits of behavioral economics and mainstream economists who feel threatened by new developments in behavioral economics Written for those who wish to become quickly acquainted with behavioral economics
