The Ladder Presents: Your One-Stop Holiday Reading Guide

We find ourselves simultaneously in two stressful and exciting seasons: Transitition season, and holiday shopping season. Looking to quench the thirst for new, thoughtful policy ideas while ticking off an item on your Holiday shopping/reading list? Look no further than Asset Building and Low-Income Families, a recent book from Urban Institute press.

Edited by our good friends Signe-Mary McKernan (Urban Institute) and Michael Sherraden (Center for Social Development at Washington University and Godfather of Asset Building), Asset Building and Low-Income Families brings together a number of experts to discuss the burgeoning field of asset-based policy. Our very own Reid Cramer is among the impressive list of contributors.

From the introduction:

Overall, theory and evidence suggest that asset-based policies may promote development of individuals, families, and perhaps communities and society as a whole. Yet traditional social policies that assist the poor have focused mainly on income and consumption. The United States and many other countries do have large asset-based subsidies, but the poor are frequently left out because (1) the subsidies operate through the tax system (e.g., the mortgage interest deduction, tax breaks for contributions to retirement and education accounts) and the poor have little or no tax liability; and (2) the poor are less likely to own homes, investments, or retirement accounts, where most asset-based policies are targeted. In addition, asset limits in means-tested transfer policies have the potential to discourage saving by the poor. In many respects, the poor do not have access to the same structures and incentives for asset accumulation as those who are not poor. This is unfortunate because saving and asset building for low-income households are activities that may enable a family to eventually move up and out of poverty. The potential of asset building to promote long-term development of low-income households motivates this book.