Suchergebnisse

The burden of the COVID-19 pandemic has not been shouldered equally by American families. Black and Hispanic communities have been hit the hardest, with the pandemic often exacerbating existing disparities. Using nationally representative data, we assess the economic and public health effects of the pandemic among different socioeconomic groups and whether typical sources of protection from economic insecurity are uniformly protective across the U.S. population. Within these sociodemographic groups, we also explore differences by education and industry. We find higher levels of employment loss among Blacks and Hispanics, those without college degrees, and frontline workers. We also find evidence that individuals and families are facing mental health episodes and are turning to costly alternative financial strategies to cope throughout the pandemic.

Abstract: We examined grit in the context of a wealth-building situation: tax refund savings. Specifically, we leveraged a novel dataset combining longitudinal survey data with administrative tax data for a sample of 6,904 low- and moderate-income (LMI) tax filers in the United States. After statistically balancing individuals on grit across a range of important characteristics with propensity score weighting, we found that grit was associated with better financial behaviors. Additionally, the influence of grit on savings-related behaviors did not vary across the experience of financial stressors. Lastly, we found that individuals exhibiting higher levels of grit prioritized education spending over gifts, confirming the notion that people exhibiting higher levels of grit are determined and passionate as they pursue their long-term goals.

AbstractLow-income households struggle to accumulate emergency savings, which increases economic vulnerability in the face of unexpected events like expensive car repairs. This vulnerability may be even greater among persistently low-income households, which might benefit most from building emergency savings using tax refunds. This study examined the effects of randomly assigned behavioral interventions that incorporated a choice architecture manipulation and savings-related messages aimed at encouraging refund saving and delivered through a free, online tax-filing software program. The study sample comprised 4,536 tax filers, including 1,235 with persistent low incomes. Using administrative tax data and data from a two-wave household financial survey, regression-adjusted treatment impacts were estimated using intent-to-treat analysis to examine whether filers had any of their tax refunds still in savings and how much of their refund they still had saved six months after filing their taxes. Results indicated directional but nonstatistically significant increases in these savings outcomes across three treatment groups for the full sample, yet statistically significant treatment effects among the persistently low-income subsample, effects that were moderated by the prefiling absence of emergency resources. These results suggested that tax-time savings interventions are most effective among low-income households with the greatest needs for emergency savings.

Despite the array of public programs offered to help households mitigate the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, many still needed to rely on savings, credit, or other assets to make ends meet. This reality may exacerbate existing social and economic inequities because racial and ethnic minorities often have lower access to assets and credit than white households. We use longitudinal national survey data to explore the extent to which different racial and ethnic groups experienced housing hardships during the pandemic, the role of liquid assets in mediating housing hardship, and whether job/income loss moderated the relationship among race/ethnicity, liquid assets, and housing hardship. We find that liquid assets significantly mediated the relationship between race/ethnicity and housing hardships and that the effect was stronger for those who lost jobs or incomes as a result of COVID-19.