West Coast Poverty Center (WCPC) Seminar
“The Hidden Financial Lives of Low-Income Americans “
Jonathan Morduch Professor of Public Policy and Economics Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University
Monday, May 4th
UW Club, Yukon Pacific Room 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Abstract: The recent recession intensified trends that have transformed the American economy over the past four decades. As jobs and job quality change, American families are experiencing major changes in how much they earn and how stable their economic lives are. Detailed surveys collected by the US Financial Diaries project document a year in the financial lives of 235 families across the United States. The Diaries data show how the changes in labor markets affect families day to day. Increasingly, financial lives entail significantly more self-reliance, more risk, and more ups and downs. The results call for new ways to think about saving, anti-poverty policy, and financial innovation.
