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Discussion Paper
Shedding Light on Our Economic and Financial Lives
In November and December of 2017, we interviewed over 12,000 individuals, representative of all adults in the United States, about their economic and financial lives. Here we discuss the responses on three important economic issues: the role of economic conditions in the opioid epidemic; jobs with irregular schedules and varying income as a potential barrier to full employment; and how low rates of geographic mobility may relate to family support networks.
Working Paper
Balance-Sheet Households and Fiscal Stimulus: Lessons from the Payroll Tax Cut and Its Expiration
Balance-sheet repair drove the response of a significant fraction of households to fiscal stimulus following the Great Recession. By combining survey, behavioral, and time-series evidence on the 2011 payroll tax cut and its expiration in 2013, this papers identifies and analyzes households who smooth debt repayment. These "balance-sheet households" are as prevalent as "permanent-income households," who smooth consumption in response to the temporary tax cut, and outnumber "constrained households," who temporarily boost spending. The asymmetric spending response of balance-sheet ...
Report
Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2018
This report describes the responses to the sixth annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED). The goal of the survey is to share the wide range of financial challenges and opportunities facing individuals and households in the United States.1 For many, the findings are positive; however, areas of distress and fragility remain. The survey also reveals how households view their own financial lives and the many decisions they face, from education to retirement.
Discussion Paper
Residual Seasonality in GDP
With a second year in a row of unusually weak first-quarter growth, some analysts have argued that there may be residual seasonality in the GDP data, that is, a predictable seasonal pattern remains in the published data.
Report
Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2017
This report draws from the Board's fifth annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) and examines the economic well-being and financial lives of Americans and their families.
Working Paper
Check in the mail or more in the paycheck: does the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus depend on how it is delivered?
Recent fiscal policies have aimed to stimulate household spending. In 2008, most households received one-time economic stimulus payments. In 2009, most working households received the Making Work Pay tax credit in the form of reduced withholding; other households, mainly retirees, received one-time payments. This paper quantifies the spending response to these different policies and examines whether the spending response differed according to whether the stimulus was delivered as a one-time payment or as a flow of payments in the form of reduced withholding. Based on responses from a ...
Discussion Paper
Another Look at Residual Seasonality in GDP
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, real GDP rose at an annual rate of 1.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, a step down from the 2.3 percent pace in the second half of last year. However, we argue in this note that residual seasonality is unlikely to be the primary reason for the slowdown in first-quarter growth this year.