Clear nonpartisan analysis of fiscal and tax policy enables policymakers and the public to weigh competing theories on how to end the country’s economic crisis. Urban Institute researchers evaluated key components of the stimulus package and analyzed the tax proposals in the president’s budget. Warning decisionmakers about the unsustainable fiscal course ahead, our experts propose ways to control deficits and reform the entitlement programs that drive up spending. Read more.
Millions of American households, especially those in the bottom half of the income distribution, use nonbank credit products. This credit, while small in initial denomination, can add up to significant debt burdens for those who can least afford it. Yet, the extensive use of alternative financial sector services indicates that consumers perceive such services to be useful or necessary. This summary provides an overview of research on this sector. It reviews literature on five small-dollar credit products and financial services: auto title loans, pawnshops, payday lending, refund anticipation loans and checks, and rent-to-own borrowing.
States help finance most antipoverty programs, but there's a major flaw in this approach: in recessions, need goes up just as state revenues go down. The resulting budget gaps often lead to significant program cutbacks, even when caseloads are on the rise. Federal assistance during the recent recession helped states meet stepped-up demand, but funding is set to expire and unemployment is expected to remain high. Federal and state governments should repair this financing hitch now to protect antipoverty programs.
Even though children in the United States have higher poverty rates than adults and the elderly, federal spending on kids is disproportionately small and has been shrinking for years. The recession threatened to eat away further at those investments, prompting the president and Congress to temporarily boost funding for some two dozen federal programs that benefit children. To support the development of children in low-income families, we recommend making some of those provisions permanent. We also propose new investments in the preschool and postsecondary years when public spending is at its lowest, while also experimenting with new initiatives to support low-income children.
Decades ago, my parents taught me a simple lesson: when something goes awry and its outcome remains uncertain, do what you can and should do to the best of your capability. The future may not be entirely in your control, but by setting some good things in motion you make tough issues easier to handle.
Kids' Share 2010: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children through 2009, a fourth annual report, looks comprehensively at trends in federal spending and tax expenditures on children. Key findings suggest that historically children have not been a budget priority. In 2009, this trend continued, as children's spending accounted for less than one-tenth of federal outlays. While the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides a temporary boost, children's spending will continue to be squeezed in the next decade.
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