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Journal Article
Spotlight: Financial services: Banking within reach of more Mexicans
In 2008-09, Mexico was wracked by the global financial crisis, suffering its largest one-year economic contraction since at least the 1930s. But the banking sector withstood the shock and made important strides in one area--bringing previously unbanked households into the financial system. Boosting Mexico's economic development by helping small businesses fulfill their potential depends on improving access to finance and fully linking these engines of economic growth and opportunity to the formal economy.
Journal Article
Asset building and the wealth gap
Building and maintaining financial security is increasingly difficult for a growing portion of American households. Wealth is less prevalent in middle-class households and increasing among the already well-to-do. At the same time, poverty is growing and concentrating disproportionately among the nonwhite population. As the cost of living outpaces income and wealth accumulation, a majority of U.S. households are ill-prepared for financial emergencies or retirement.
Journal Article
A nation of spendthrifts? An analysis of trends in personal and gross saving
The steep drop in the U.S. personal saving rate over the last decade has fueled speculation that Americans are spending recklessly. But alternative measures of personal saving show that households are actually setting aside a larger share of their resources than the official figures suggest. In addition, government saving has risen markedly, leading to an increase in overall domestic saving that has helped finance a surge in U.S. investment.
Journal Article
Survey says families are digging deeper into debt
The Fed's triennial Survey of Consumer Finances found that median household debt rose almost 34 percent between 2001 and 2004, while net worth rose just 1.5 percent.
Journal Article
The rise in personal bankruptcies: the Eighth Federal Reserve District and beyond
Personal bankruptcy filings in the United States increased, per capita, nearly 350 percent between 1980 and 2005. This paper first addresses the changes in economic and institutional factors that have occurred over the past 100 years, many of which have occurred in the past 30 years, which are likely contributors to the dramatic rise in personal bankruptcy filings seen across the country. These factors include a reduction in personal savings, an increase in consumer debt, the proliferation of revolving credit, changes to bankruptcy law, and a reduced social stigma associated with filing for ...
Journal Article
Federal Reserve personal financial education initiatives
Recognizing the importance of successful personal financial management to individuals and the broader economy, the Federal Reserve System has in the past two years intensified its efforts to provide and promote personal financial education. Initiatives have ranged from a public outreach effort highlighting the importance of financial education, to local and regional Reserve Bank programs targeted to specific audiences, to new educational seminars for employees. Staff members have studied the effectiveness of different types of education programs for different groups, and the System has worked ...
Working Paper
The household spending response to the 2003 tax cut: evidence from survey data
The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2003 has been described as textbook fiscal stimulus. Using household survey data on the self-reported qualitative response to the tax cuts, we estimate that the boost to aggregate personal consumption expenditures from the child credit rebate and the reduction in withholdings raised the average level of real GDP in the second half of 2003 by 0.2 percent and by 0.3 percent in the first half of 2004. We also show that households in the survey were well aware of their tax cuts and tended to spend equally out of the child credit rebate and ...
Journal Article
Banking on Financial Education
Last fall, the Texas Department of Banking surveyed Texas banks to identify the financial education services and programs they offer. One hundred and fifty-four banks responded to the online survey.
Journal Article
Saving less
Journal Article
Personal bankruptcy: the new American pastime?
This year has been a great one for major league baseball. In the game of personal finances, however, it's been a bust. Why are so many Americans swinging for the fences, but whiffing instead?