Asset-Building Polices, Economic Security, and Individual Development Over a Life Course

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This session includes both quantitative and qualitative studies to examine the multifaceted factors in shaping asset building and wealth accumulation across the life course, highlighting the critical implications of asset-building policies, family engagement, and intergenerational transfers. While assets and wealth accumulation are increasingly recognized as vital for economic security, social equity, and upward mobility, our society faces stark wealth inequalities in their distribution by races and socioeconomic factors. Achieving human development and economic security through strategies like savings, investment, homeownership, and retirement savings is not just a matter of individual agency, but also deeply embedded within and significantly influenced by institutional arrangements. Taking a life course perspective, this session delves into the interactions between institutional potential of Child Development Accounts/Child Savings Accounts and personal engagement and actions on wealth accumulation, racial equity, and individual development.  

The first paper on SEED OK reveals the significant positive impacts of universal, automatic Child Development Accounts (CDAs) over 17 years on college assets, parental expectations, college preparation, engagement, hope, and behavior. It underscores the potential of early asset-building policies for long-term well-being and racial equity.

The second study qualitatively examines how active incentives in a Child Savings Accounts (CSAs) program encourage low-income families to plan for their children's future. The findings indicate that these incentives foster engagement by developing routine saving behaviors, alleviating parental stress, strengthening long-term saving commitments, and building a sense of community.

The third paper will identify learning opportunities and challenges associated with seeking to build new residential housing in a de-industrialized and dis-invested community. It exemplifies the extortionary investment of time and resources necessary to go around systemic barriers to community-led redevelopment. 

The fourth paper investigates the economic security of older parents, focusing on how race, gender, and economic position influence financial asset transfers across generations. The study uses longitudinal qualitative data from low- to middle-income Black and White parents, examining their retirement planning in response to macroeconomic events. By combining this qualitative data with quantitative data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the research aims to reveal how wealth disparities affect families' decision-making and outcomes over three decades.

Policy Area

• Social Equity and Race

Secondary Policy Area

• Poverty and Income Policy

Chair

• Michael Sherraden, Washington University

Discussant

• Trina R Shanks, University of Michigan Ann Arbor

Organizer

• Jin Huang, Saint Louis University

Individual Presentations

• Wealth Building and Child Development: Long-Term Effects of Child Development Accounts - Presenting Author: Jin Huang, Saint Louis University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Sicong Sun, University of California - Los Angeles; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Yingying Zeng, University of Georgia; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Michael Sherraden, Washington University

• Beyond the Balance: A Qualitative Study of How Incentive Structure Fosters Engagement in CollegeBound Saint Paul - Presenting Author: Subin Min, University of Michigan Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Megan Seana O'Brien, University of Michigan Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Amanda Jones-Layman, Neumann University

• MiDCIF- a pathway to new residential construction in Detroit? - Presenting Author: David Palmer, Kite and Key Partners; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Patrick Meehan, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Alexandra Jane Makohn, MiSide

• Retirement Security of Black and White Older Parents: An Investigation of Wealth Disparities and Transfers - Presenting Author: Tatjana Meschede, Brandeis University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Sylvia Hotakainen Stewart, Brandeis University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Manning Zhang, Brandeis University