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Working Paper
Impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Labor Supply and Welfare of Married Households
This paper calculates the change in optimal labor supply and total family welfare resultingfrom the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA). We estimate labor supply elasticities for marriedfamilies in the Current Population Survey from 2015 to 2017, using a joint family utility model. Theseelasticities are then used to simulate changes in optimal labor supply and resulting change in welfareamong families with different characteristics under the new TCJA tax code. We find that optimalhours are lower post-TCJA, relative to before. However, there are differences across family membersand family ...
Working Paper
Eviction and Poverty in American Cities
More than two million U.S. households have an eviction case filed against them each year. Policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels are increasingly pursuing policies to reduce the number of evictions, citing harm to tenants and high public expenditures related to home lessness. We study the consequences of eviction for tenants, using newly linked administrative data from Cook County (which includes Chicago) and New York City. We document that prior to housing court, tenants experience declines in earnings and employment and increases in financial distress and hospital visits. ...
Working Paper
Changes in family welfare from 1994 to 2012: a tale of two decades
The female/male average wage ratio has steadily risen from 1983 to 2012. In earlier work, we found that the falling wage gap from 1983 to 1993 was materially detrimental to the average dual-earner family. The female/male wage ratio continued to rise over the following two decades, accompanied by a growing share of households in which the wife is the principal household income generator. This paper investigates how these two developments affected family welfare. Although family welfare rose during the 1990s, the story of the 2000s is quite different.
Working Paper
Family Welfare and the Cost of Unemployment
This paper calculates the cost of an unemployment shock in terms of family welfare. We find that, overall, families face an average annualized expected dollar equivalent welfare loss of $1,156 when the unemployment rate rises by 1 percentage point. The average welfare loss for married families is greater than for single families and increases with education. We then estimate that a 1.8 percent shock to purchasing power would generate the same amount of overall welfare loss as a one-percentage-point rise in the unemployment rate.
Working Paper
Trade Risk and Food Security
We study the role of international trade risk for food security, the patterns of production and trade across sectors, and its implications for policy. We document that food import dependence across countries is associated with higher food insecurity, particularly in low-income countries. We provide causal evidence on the role of trade risk for food security by exploiting the exogeneity of the Ukraine-Russia war as a major trade disruption limiting access to imports of critical food products. Using micro-level data from Ethiopia, we empirically show that districts relatively more exposed to ...
Working Paper
Evaluating the Effects of Geographic Adjustments on Poverty Measures Using Self-Reported Financial Well-Being Scores
A central aspect of poverty measurement is how well the measure can identify the people and places that are experiencing financial hardships. This paper explores the relationship between poverty financial hardship by using the CFPB's financial well-being scale, which reflects individuals' self-assessments of their financial challenges. Using this measure, for every 1 percentage point increase in a state's official poverty rate for working-age adults, there is a 0.59 percentage point increase in the share of working-age adults with very low financial well-being. In contrast, the state's ...
Report
Community Education Circles in the Lawrence Public Schools: evaluation design and baseline survey data
This paper describes a plan for evaluating the Community Education Circles (CECs) program that is being implemented in the Lawrence Public Schools as part of an effort to enhance family-school engagement and improve outcomes for both students and parents. The CECs program supports the larger Lawrence Working Families Initiative, which in 2013 was awarded a multiyear grant through the Boston Fed?s Working Cities Challenge. This paper accomplishes several objectives: (1) describe the goals and methods of the CECs program as well as the larger goals of the Lawrence Working Families Initiative; ...