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Discussion Paper
Shedding Light on Our Economic and Financial Lives
In November and December of 2017, we interviewed over 12,000 individuals, representative of all adults in the United States, about their economic and financial lives. Here we discuss the responses on three important economic issues: the role of economic conditions in the opioid epidemic; jobs with irregular schedules and varying income as a potential barrier to full employment; and how low rates of geographic mobility may relate to family support networks.
Working Paper
Balance-Sheet Households and Fiscal Stimulus: Lessons from the Payroll Tax Cut and Its Expiration
Balance-sheet repair drove the response of a significant fraction of households to fiscal stimulus following the Great Recession. By combining survey, behavioral, and time-series evidence on the 2011 payroll tax cut and its expiration in 2013, this papers identifies and analyzes households who smooth debt repayment. These "balance-sheet households" are as prevalent as "permanent-income households," who smooth consumption in response to the temporary tax cut, and outnumber "constrained households," who temporarily boost spending. The asymmetric spending response of balance-sheet ...
Discussion Paper
"Limited Attention" and Inflation Expectations of Households
In this note, we use the household-level data in the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers, including respondents' own changes in expectations, to document new signs that households pay limited attention to inflation developments.
Report
Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2018
This report describes the responses to the sixth annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED). The goal of the survey is to share the wide range of financial challenges and opportunities facing individuals and households in the United States.1 For many, the findings are positive; however, areas of distress and fragility remain. The survey also reveals how households view their own financial lives and the many decisions they face, from education to retirement.