Mark Schmitt: Michael Sherraden’s Compounding Interest

Mark Schmitt, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and senior research fellow in the American Strategy Program at New America, spoke at our July event “Jobs are Not Enough” on the piece he contributed to the July/August issue of the Washington Monthly. His article, Michael Sherraden’s Compounding Interest, looks at the history of the asset building field. Examining more than two decades of work, Schmitt highlights notable successes and contemplates why progressive political groups have not been more successful in advancing these ideas.

At the event, Schmitt explains his motivations for wanting to look at the history and trajectory of the asset building field. How do ideas become embedded in the political discourse and policy making process?

Ultimately, Schmitt argues both in his piece and his remarks that we have fully tested and experimented with the core concepts of asset building. It’s time for policy approaches that embrace these concepts on the national scale. There is widespread and bipartisan agreement that assets are a key to building economic security, yet progress has been slow.

Read Michael Sherraden’s Compounding Interest here and view the full event “Jobs are Not Enough” here.