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Working Paper
Health Insurance as an Income Stabilizer
We evaluate the effect of health insurance on the incidence of negative income shocks using the tax data and survey responses of nearly 14,000 low income households. Us-ing a regression discontinuity (RD) design and variation in the cost of nongroup pri-vate health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, we find that eligibility for sub-sidized Marketplace insurance is associated with a 16% and 9% decline in the rates of unexpected job loss and income loss, respectively. Effects are concentrated among households with past health costs and exist only for “unexpected” forms of earnings ...
Periodic Essay
Bankruptcy Rules and “Medicaid Churn” Affect Saving of Families Planning for Medical Bills
The use of bankruptcy to avoid medical bills and the sometimes transient nature of Medicaid play a role in low-income families? decisions about saving.
Periodic Essay
Medicaid Can Increase Saving by Distressed Households
After Medicaid eligibility, financially stressed families chose to save more from tax refunds, but low-income families that weren?t as financially stressed didn?t make major changes to saving choices.
Financial Hardship Following Hurricane Harvey
Financial constraints before the hurricane, homeownership status and the likelihood of having flood insurance altered the financial effects of flooding on families.
Essay
Plasma Donations Curb Demand for Payday Loans
Research shows that demand for high-cost debt like payday and installment loans tends to decline after plasma donation centers open in U.S. communities.
Periodic Essay
Cash on Hand Is Critical for Avoiding Hardship
Should more families be encouraged to hold a liquidity buffer even if it means incurring more debt in the short-term?
Journal Article
Cash on Hand Is Critical for Avoiding Hardship
Should more families be encouraged to hold a liquidity buffer even if it means incurring more debt in the short term?
Working Paper
Coverage Neglect in Homeowner's Insurance
Most homeowners do not have enough insurance coverage to rebuild their house after a total loss. Using contract-level data from 24 homeowner's insurance companies in Colorado, we show wide differences in average underinsurance across insurers that persist conditional on policyholder characteristics. Underinsurance matters for disaster recovery. Across households that lost homes to a major wildfire, each 10 percentage point increase in underinsurance reduces the likelihood of filing a rebuilding permit within a year of the fire by 4 percentage points. To understand why consumers purchase ...