This Issue Spotlight explores the challenges that recipients of public benefits programs offering cash assistance encounter in accessing funds through financial products or services, with a specific focus on assistance provided on prepaid cards.
The $600 cash payments provided by the CARES act prevented joblessness from turning into actual income loss for millions of families. It also gave Americans breathing room to wait for better jobs, rather than settling for bad ones out of desperation.
This report explores the financial challenges faced by U.S. workers, analyzing the roles of work arrangements and public and workplace benefits in achieving financial security, while highlighting the disparities in access and effectiveness for low- and moderate-income workers.
PolicyEngine is a nonprofit that provides a free, open-source web app enabling users in the US and UK to estimate taxes and benefits at the household level, while also simulating the effects of policy changes. By combining tax and benefits data, PolicyEngine helps individuals and policymakers better understand the impacts of existing policies and proposed reforms, using microsimulation models built from legislation and enhanced survey data.
Through analyzing hundreds of research studies and surveying thousands of Americans this report identifies 28 life experiences that drive lifetime income, called mobility experiences.
This article examines the concept of "viral cash" and suggests that the future growth of basic income programs will depend on advocacy networks rather than traditional policy diffusion across jurisdictions.
In this report, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation examines benefits cliffs – the loss of eligibility for public safety-net programs and benefits they provide as income rises above eligibility limits.
The article examines the impact of digital interfaces on welfare state administration, focusing on the UK's Universal Credit system and the design elements that shape user interactions and behavior in an "interface first" bureaucracy.
