Income and Wealth

Baby bonds are publicly funded child trust accounts that have been proposed as a solution to build wealth for young adults and reduce racial wealth disparities. Public support for baby bonds is gaining momentum, including federal legislation introduced by Senator Booker (D-NJ) and reintroduced by Senator Booker and Representative Pressley (D-MA).

This project will use the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center's enhanced model to examine how the federal tax treatment of capital income and wealth might affect Black families differently than white families. We will also consider the racial equity effects of alternative tax policies—both those aimed at reducing the tax burden of all capital holders and those that would explicitly redistribute wealth in ways that could narrow the racial wealth gap.

Over the past several years, cash transfer programs have emerged as a unique opportunity to address the systemic barriers lower-income families face in achieving full economic security.

How can intentional lending practices and homebuyer programs in disinvested communities lead to more cohesive, healthier neighborhoods and accelerate the closing of racial wealth gaps?

The study will examine how the effects of minimum wage on health may vary across different demographic groups, particularly targeting women of color.

This project will estimate the effects of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a policy intended to reduce inequality through financial access, on disparities in entrepreneurship, employment, and poverty outcomes by race and ethnicity, asking whether the CRA reduces racial inequality in entrepreneurship, employment, and income. 

Reparations are one policy solution that can advance racial equity and justice in the United States and can decrease racial inequities in health and well-being. Yet reparations cannot be truly effective and reparative if they are not deeply accountable to the people who were harmed. Building on the authentic grassroots organizing and meaningful community engagement of the Racial Justice Coalition in Asheville, North Carolina, the research team will utilize qualitative methods to study the local reparations process underway in Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina.

This research will provide valuable evidence of the effects of a guaranteed income on families with low incomes and allow other jurisdictions who may be considering similar policies to use the program in Compton, CA as a model.

This project will examine the impact of existing student debt forgiveness policies on racial wealth gaps, specifically on Black-White and Hispanic-White wealth gaps.

From 2013-2015, more than 3 million U.S. workers became unemployed and nearly a third were unable to return to work by 2018. Unexpected job losses can be devastating for individuals and families. However, a job loss and a sudden gap in health coverage creates an added layer of financial distress for households with costly medical needs. These households must absorb the costs of their health care needs or risk experiencing negative health effects.

Approximately 16 percent of children in the U.S. live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold, potentially creating negative long-term effects that are experienced over the life-course. The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides cash assistance to low-income children with disabilities, expanding family budgets and potentially allowing low-income parents to better protect the health of vulnerable children. However, few studies have evaluated the impact of this policy.

People who receive vouchers or other forms of federal or local housing assistance are not protected from discrimination by federal fair housing or civil rights laws, and in most places, landlords can legally refuse to rent to voucher holders. Researchers will assess whether and under what conditions state and local protections reduce landlord discrimination and improve the rate at which voucher holders are successful at finding housing.