Early Wealth Building at Scale: A Comparative Framework for Designing and Assessing Child-Focused Asset Policies

• In Event: Designing Early Wealth-Building Policy for Equity, Scale, and Impact

Abstract

Background: Early wealth-building policies—such as Child Development Accounts, baby bonds, and the recently implemented Trump Accounts—have immense potential to expand economic opportunity and reduce wealth inequality (Sherraden, 1991; Sherraden & Clancy, 2005; Hamilton & Darity, 2010; Huang, Sherraden, & Johnson, 2025; Zou & Sherraden, 2025). While scholars have developed ten evidence-based design elements for universal and progressive early wealth-building policies (Clancy & Beverly, 2017; Sherraden, Clancy, & Beverly, 2018; Brown, Biu, & McKernan, 2024), there is a critical need to apply this established framework systematically and comprehensively across the full range of current early wealth-building initiatives to assess where policies meet evidence-based design standards.

This study operationalizes ten evidence-based CDA design elements into a comprehensive assessment rubric to evaluate early wealth-building policies across a vector of key metrics, including age of first inclusion, scope, progressivity, investment growth potential, and other factors. We will apply this rubric to the growing number of local, state, and federal early wealth-building policies in the U.S. to assess which early wealth-building policies show greatest potential for effectiveness, scale, and sustainability. In addition, we will assess to what extent, and how effectively, policies are implemented. Overall, we will also assess where the design of these policies may fall short of best practices, and outline a model for design and delivery of a comprehensive, “best features” early wealth building policy.

Methods: Our analysis proceeds in three stages. First, we will use the Elicit systematic review tool to scan enacted and proposed early wealth-building policies and programs across federal, state, and local contexts, and to extract relevant data points from these policies. We will supplement this scan with structured expert input to ensure comprehensive policy inclusion. Second, drawing on existing literature, we will develop an early wealth-building policy assessment rubric covering key design and implementation domains. Third, five independent reviewers will score each policy using the rubric. We will assess inter-rater agreement at the rubric-dimension level, and will report descriptive agreement metrics to inform rubric refinement. Final analytic scores for each policy will be defined as the median reviewer score for each rubric dimension.

Preliminary Results: We are currently in the data collection stage of the analysis. We have identified roughly 30 policies for potential inclusion, and have also preliminarily identified ten criteria for the assessment rubric: age of inclusion, scope and reach, progressivity, investment potential, transparency and oversight, portability and ease of use, vertical connections and supports, and evidence base.

Implications: Early wealth-building policies are advancing rapidly, but the existing evidence-based design guidance has not been systematically applied across the full range of current initiatives. This study offers a practical way forward by providing a transparent, replicable assessment rubric that can be used to (1) compare proposals on common metrics, (2) identify where particular policies are likely to underperform because of avoidable design frictions (e.g., opt-in enrollment, insufficient or regressive public contributions, high fees, narrow or burdensome use restrictions, limited portability, or weak benefit protections), and (3) prioritize targeted modifications that improve equity and effectiveness.

Author

• Stephen Patrick Roll, Washington University in St. Louis
  Presenting Author