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Journal Article
The State of the COVID-19 Crisis in the U.S.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard says that simple risk mitigation strategies hold the promise of delivering higher household incomes along with lower fatalities from COVID-19.
Working Paper
Does Medicaid Generosity Affect Household Income?
Almost all recent literature on Medicaid and labor supply has used Affordable Care Act (ACA)-induced Medicaid eligibility expansions in various states as natural experiments. Estimated effects on employment and earnings differ widely due to differences in the scope of eligibility expansion across states and are potentially subject to biases due to policy endogeneity. Using a Regression Kink Design (RKD) framework, this paper takes a uniquely different approach to the identification of the effect of Medicaid generosity on household income. Both state-level data and March CPS data from ...
Working Paper
Low-Income Consumers and Payment Choice
Low-income consumers are not only constrained with spending, but also with the type and variety of payment methods available to them. Using a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, this paper analyzes the low possession (adoption) of credit and debit cards among low-income consumers who are also unbanked. Using a random utility model, I estimate the potential welfare gains associated with policy options suggested in the literature to provide subsidized and unsubsidized debit cards to this consumer population.
Working Paper
Lifecycle Patterns of Saving and Wealth Accumulation
Empirical analysis of U.S. income, saving and wealth dynamics is constrained by a lack of high-quality and comprehensive household-level panel data. This paper uses a pseudo-panel approach, tracking types of agents by birth cohort and across time through a series of cross-section snapshots synthesized with macro aggregates. The key micro source data is the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), which captures the top of the wealth distribution by sampling from administrative records. The SCF has the detailed balance sheet components, incomes, and interfamily transfers needed to use both sides of ...
Economic Sentiment and Indicators of Household Financial Wellness
An analysis looks at inflation, household income and consumer debt during recent economic expansions to understand U.S. consumer sentiment since COVID-19.
Journal Article
Shifting Dynamics in Eighth District Cities
From 2017 to 2018, the cities of St. Louis, Little Rock, Louisville and Memphis had better commute times and cheaper housing but higher income inequality and lower median household incomes.
Working Paper
Household Incomes in Tax Data : Using Addresses to Move from Tax Unit to Household Income Distributions
Tax return data are increasingly the standard for tracking income statistics in the United States. However, these data have traditionally been limited by their inability to capture non-filers and to identify members of separate tax units living in the same household. We overcome these obstacles and create household records directly in the tax data using mailing address information included on tax forms. We then present the first set of tax-based household income and inequality measures for the entire income distribution. When comparing household income inequality results in the tax data to ...
Working Paper
Do Minimum Wage Increases Benefit Intended Households? Evidence from the Performance of Residential Leases
Prior studies debating the e?ects of changes to the minimum wage concentrate on impacts on household income and spending or employment. We extend this debate by examining the impact of changes to the minimum wage on expenses associated with shelter, a previously unexplored area. Increases in state minimum wages signi?cantly reduce the incidence of renters defaulting on their lease contracts by 1.29 percentage points over three months, relative to similar renters who did not experience an increase in the minimum wage. This represents 25.7% fewer defaults post treatment in treated states. To ...
Journal Article
Geographic Mobility and Consumer Financial Health: Evidence from Oil Production Boom Towns
One way a household might handle financial distress is to relocate to another area that offers greater income opportunities. This article examines the impact of geographic mobility on consumer finances by focusing on the residents of ?boom towns??areas that saw a surge of growth in oil-drilling activity around 2010 and a bust thereafter. We find that residents who move after the bust experience stronger consumer financial health than residents who stay put.
Journal Article
Developments in Household Liabilities Since the 1990s
The ratio of household liabilities to income increased from the mid 1990s to 2010, driven by an increase in the supply of loans that outpaced loan demand.