Saving Incentives for Low- and Middle-income Families

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 68 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Saving Incentives for Low- and Middle-income Families by : Esther Duflo

Download or read book Saving Incentives for Low- and Middle-income Families written by Esther Duflo and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This paper analyzes the effects of a large randomized field experiment carried out with H&R Block, offering matching incentives for IRA contributions at the time of tax preparation. About 14,000 H&R Block clients, across 60 offices in predominantly low- and middle-income neighborhoods in St. Louis, were randomly offered a 20 percent match on IRA contributions, a 50 percent match, or no match (the control group). The evaluation generates two main findings. First, higher match rates significantly raise IRA participation and contributions. Take-up rates were 3 percent for the control group, 8 percent in the 20 percent match group, and 14 percent in the 50 percent match group. Average IRA contributions (including non-contributors, excluding the match) for the 20 percent and 50 percent match groups were 4 and 7 times higher than in the control group, respectively. Second, several additional findings are inconsistent with the full information, rational-saver model. In particular, we find much more modest effects on take-up and amounts contributed from the existing Saver's Credit, which provides an effective match for retirement saving contributions through the tax code; we suspect that the differences may reflect the complexity of the Saver's Credit as enacted, and the way in which its effective match is presented. Taken together, our results suggest that the combination of a clear and understandable match for saving, easily accessible savings vehicles, the opportunity to use part of an income tax refund to save, and professional assistance could generate a significant increase in contributions to retirement accounts, including among middle- and low-income households"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.

Improving Opportunities and Incentives for Saving by Middle- and Low-income Households

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (661 download)

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Book Synopsis Improving Opportunities and Incentives for Saving by Middle- and Low-income Households by : William G. Gale

Download or read book Improving Opportunities and Incentives for Saving by Middle- and Low-income Households written by William G. Gale and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Striving to Save

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Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 0472117122
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (721 download)

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Book Synopsis Striving to Save by : Margaret Sherrard Sherraden

Download or read book Striving to Save written by Margaret Sherrard Sherraden and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2010-02-08 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The struggles of low-income families trying to build savings accounts

Asset Building and Low-income Families

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Publisher : The Urban Insitute
ISBN 13 : 9780877667544
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (675 download)

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Book Synopsis Asset Building and Low-income Families by : Signe-Mary McKernan

Download or read book Asset Building and Low-income Families written by Signe-Mary McKernan and published by The Urban Insitute. This book was released on 2008 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Low-income families have scant savings to cushion a job loss or illness, and can find economic mobility impossible without funds to invest in education, homes, or businesses. And though a lack of resources leaves such families vulnerable, income-support programs are often closed to those with a bit of savings or even a car. Considering welfare-to-work reforms, the increasingly advanced skill demands of the American workforce, and our stretched Social Security system, such an approach is inadequate to lift families out of poverty. Asset-based policies--allowing or even helping low-income families build wealth--are an increasingly popular strategy to facilitate financial stability.

Developing a New Savings Account to Help Low to Middle Income Families to Save

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781906249830
Total Pages : 4 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (498 download)

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Book Synopsis Developing a New Savings Account to Help Low to Middle Income Families to Save by : Friends Provident Foundation

Download or read book Developing a New Savings Account to Help Low to Middle Income Families to Save written by Friends Provident Foundation and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Savings in America

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (137 download)

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Book Synopsis Savings in America by : Suzanne Nora Johnson

Download or read book Savings in America written by Suzanne Nora Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Savings policy in the United States is at a critical juncture. The U.S. personal saving rate has declined from 10.8 percent in 1984 to zero in 2005. The national saving rate, which includes government and business savings, is the lowest among the G-20 countries and has decreased significantly in recent decades. These low levels of saving generally suggest lower growth rates of income and standards of living in the future. This paper considers barriers in current policies that confront households trying to save more. These include the complexity of laws affecting retirement and saving plans, and the exclusion of many households from using incentives that are worth the most to those facing the highest tax rates. It also discusses the effect of asset tests in welfare and education policies and other institutional barriers that discourage saving, especially for low- and moderate-income families. Without advocating any particular savings policy or reform, this paper discusses several proposed policies to build assets for all Americans. These include new initiatives such as universal children's accounts and enhanced Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). The paper also explores improvements to existing programs such as matched subsidies for retirement savings, and an enhanced, refundable tax credit for low-income savers. Although many of these ideas have not been fully developed and are open to debate on their merits, we believe they form an important part of the discussion about how to boost savings in the United States.

Income Averaging

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ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 8 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Income Averaging by : United States. Internal Revenue Service

Download or read book Income Averaging written by United States. Internal Revenue Service and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Can the Poor Save?

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Publisher : Transaction Publishers
ISBN 13 : 0202363112
Total Pages : 387 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (23 download)

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Book Synopsis Can the Poor Save? by : Mark Schreiner

Download or read book Can the Poor Save? written by Mark Schreiner and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2011-12-31 with total page 387 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.

Incentives to Save

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 94 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (473 download)

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Book Synopsis Incentives to Save by :

Download or read book Incentives to Save written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Inclusion in the American Dream

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780195347098
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (47 download)

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Book Synopsis Inclusion in the American Dream by : Michael Sherraden

Download or read book Inclusion in the American Dream written by Michael Sherraden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-07-21 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inclusion in the American Dream brings together leading scholars and policy experts on the topic of asset building, particularly as this relates to public policy. The typical American household accumulates most of its assets in home equity and retirement accounts, both of which are subsidized through the tax system. But the poor, for the most part, do not participate in these asset accumulation policies. The challenge is to expand the asset-based policy structure so that everyone is included.

Savings Incentives

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 16 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (72 download)

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Book Synopsis Savings Incentives by :

Download or read book Savings Incentives written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saving is the portion of national output that is not consumed and represents resources that can be used to increase, replace, or improve the nation's capital stock. The U.S. net national saving rate reached a post-war peak of 12.4% in 1965 and has then trended downward since to a low of 0.8% in 2005. Many analysts claim that saving is too low. Among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the United States has the third lowest saving rate. Survey evidence suggests that people know why they should save, but many don't save, especially lower-income individuals and families. Several reasons have been offered to explain the declining personal saving rate and the relatively high proportion of individuals and families do not always make optimal decisions regarding consumption and saving. The government offers tax incentives to individuals and families to save. The empirical evidence on the relationship of tax incentives to the saving rate mostly comes from examinations of traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) plans. The reported results are mixed, but generally indicate small effects. Be that as it may, the tax incentives tend to benefit higher-income individuals and families. The primary reasons are (1) higher-income individuals are much more likely to save, and (2) higher-income individuals face higher marginal tax rates and benefit more from sheltering income from taxation. Furthermore, the tax revenue loss for these incentives lower public saving by reducing the budget surplus or increasing the budget deficit. For FY2006, these tax incentives are estimated to cost the U.S. Treasury $125.6 billion in forgone tax revenues -- almost 40% of the estimated FY2006 budget deficit. The Bush Administration and the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform have advocated expanding tax incentives as the primary policy to encourage personal saving. Research has shown that personal saving has been fairly unresponsive to tax incentives, however, and such incentives may substantially decrease public saving (that is, increase the budget deficit). The long-term net effect on national saving and economic growth is likely negative.

Using Financial Innovation to Support Savers

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 59 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (129 download)

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Book Synopsis Using Financial Innovation to Support Savers by : Peter Tufano

Download or read book Using Financial Innovation to Support Savers written by Peter Tufano and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We review a wide variety of programs that support savings by families, in particular by low- and moderate-income families. These programs range from ones that literally compel families to save, to those that make it hard not to save, make it easier to save, provide financial incentives to induce savings, leverage social networks to support savers, and finally, to programs that excite people to saving. These programs involve a number of different stakeholders, including governmental entities, social intermediaries, non-profit organizations, and for-profit firms including financial institutions. They embody a number of different assumptions about incentives, drawing from economics, psychology, and sociology. We describe examples of each program and provide some information on their economics and effectiveness. Our goal is not to identify the quot;bestquot; program, but rather to lay out the range of innovations to meet the needs of heterogeneous potential savers.

Assets and the Poor

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1315288354
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (152 download)

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Book Synopsis Assets and the Poor by : Michael Sherraden

Download or read book Assets and the Poor written by Michael Sherraden and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-09-16 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work proposes a new approach to welfare: a social policy that goes beyond simple income maintenance to foster individual initiative and self-sufficiency. It argues for an asset-based policy that would create a system of saving incentives through individual development accounts (IDAs) for specific purposes, such as college education, homeownership, self-employment and retirement security. In this way, low-income Americans could gain the same opportunities that middle- and upper-income citizens have to plan ahead, set aside savings and invest in a more secure future.

Savings in the U.S.

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781607413578
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (135 download)

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Book Synopsis Savings in the U.S. by : Lyman T. Randolph

Download or read book Savings in the U.S. written by Lyman T. Randolph and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Raising the share of income saved is a frequent aim of public policy. That may be particularly apparent in debates about the size of the federal budget deficit, but concerns about the low household saving rate have also prompted policymakers to consider ways to encourage individuals to save more. How much individuals save will directly affect their future economic well-being. This book presents standard economic analysis of the macroeconomic effects of raising savings. An increase in saving means a reduction in spending. In the short run, that is likely to result in slower economic growth than would otherwise have been the case. When the saving rate rises, demand for financial assets rises as well. This book also looks at savings incentives and Social Security, and why the household savings rate is low. From a macroeconomic perspective, what matters is that saving, whether from the household, business or public sector is channelled into investments which increase the capital stock, raise productivity and add to economic growth. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

High-income Families Benefit Most from New Education Savings Incentives

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 6 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (153 download)

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Book Synopsis High-income Families Benefit Most from New Education Savings Incentives by :

Download or read book High-income Families Benefit Most from New Education Savings Incentives written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

No Slack

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Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
ISBN 13 : 0815722338
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (157 download)

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Book Synopsis No Slack by : Michael S. Barr

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.

The Financial Diaries

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691172986
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

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Book Synopsis The Financial Diaries by : Jonathan Morduch

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.