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Discussion Paper
EXPLORING HOSPITAL INVESTMENTS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
In recent years, growing attention has been paid to the nonmedical factors that affect individual and population health. Wide disparities in life expectancy can be identified across neighborhoods within the same city, highlighting the critical role of place and community context.1 Among modifiable factors, social and environmental circumstances are thought to account for roughly half of the variation in health outcomes, more than twice the portion accounted for by clinical care.
Discussion Paper
GENDER DISPARITIES IN FINANCIAL WELL-BEING: from the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking
This report analyzes gender differences with respect to individuals’ banking habits, credit access, and retirement planning from the Federal Reserve Board’s 2018 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED).
Discussion Paper
Student Debt Loan in Philadelphia
As of December 1, 2018, approximately 310,320 Philadelphians collectively owed $11.6 billion in student loan debt. The share of adults with student loan debt is greater in Philadelphia (25.3 percent) than in Pennsylvania (21.2 percent) and in the United States as a whole (17.3 percent). This report provides an in-depth analysis of the geographic distribution of this debt in Philadelphia. It reveals that individuals in different zip codes have drastically different experiences in how much they owe, the degree to which they struggle with repayment, and the extent to which they become ...
Discussion Paper
Effects of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) on Small Business Lending
This study provides new evidence on the effectiveness of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) on small business lending by focusing on a sample of neighborhoods with changed CRA eligibility status across the country because of an exogenous policy shock in 2013. The results of difference-in-differences analysis provide consistent evidence that the CRA promotes small business lending, especially in terms of number of loan originations, in lower-income neighborhoods. The generally positive effects of the CRA are sensitive to the types of CRA treatment. Losing CRA eligibility status has a ...
Discussion Paper
The Future of Cash
In many advanced economies around the world, the share of transactions conducted using cash payments has been falling over the past several years. This change has likely been because of a combination of shifting consumer tastes, improvements in payment technology (specifically credit and debit cards), and the rapid growth of online transactions. As the decline in the cash share has led to some businesses choosing not to accept cash payments, many policymakers have discussed interventions to ensure access to the modern economy for consumers who prefer to pay in cash. Despite the reduced use of ...
Discussion Paper
HOUSEHOLD RENTAL DEBT DURING COVID-19
COVID-19 and associated economic shutdowns have led to unprecedented job losses, with up to 20 million households and 24 million individuals experiencing an unemployment spell between March 2020 and August 2020.1 The scale of these losses, their disproportionate impact on lower-income workers, and the uncertain timeline of economic recovery have raised concerns about the ability of households to maintain rent payments while out of work.
Discussion Paper
Affordability and availability of rental housing in Pennsylvania
The Community Affairs Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia undertook this study, Affordability and Availability of Rental Housing in Pennsylvania, to assess the housing needs of Pennsylvania's lower-income renter households and to better understand how their needs vary across the state. Our study looks at the incidence of housing problems among this group at both the beginning and the middle of the current decade. It also considers the extent to which there were shortages in the number of rental units that were both affordable and available to lower-income renters at these ...
Discussion Paper
Alternative financial vehicles: rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs)
This paper describes how ROSCAs work and discusses the benefits that accrue to ROSCA participants and some of the costs they incur. Of particular interest is the introduction of a partial data set collected from a local ROSCA, which offers a glimpse of the capital costs ROSCA participants face and which could ultimately be contrasted with the capital costs faced by borrowers at mainstream financial institutions.
Discussion Paper
How to spend $3.92 billion: stabilizing neighborhoods by addressing foreclosed and abandoned properties
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 created the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), under which states, cities, and counties will receive a total of $3.92 billion to acquire, rehabilitate, demolish, and redevelop foreclosed and abandoned residential properties. These funds can stabilize hard-hit neighborhoods, putting them on the path to market recovery. This will only happen, however, if they are used in ways that are strategically targeted and sensitive to market conditions. This paper outlines 11 key principles that states, counties, and cities should follow as they plan ...
Discussion Paper
Financial resources for the environment: the unsuccessful attempt to create a private financing intermediary for brownfield redevelopment projects
This paper analyzes an unsuccessful attempt to establish a financing intermediary for the development of environmentally contaminated property (commonly known as brownfields) in Pennsylvania. The proposed intermediary was entitled Financial Resources for the Environment.