Federal Statistics

This brief attempts to access the trends in charitable giving and how the current economic turmoil has affected the nonprofit sector - the main topic of an August 2011 roundtable hosted by the Tax Policy and Charities project at the Urban Institute. Twenty-five experts on tax policy and the nonprofit sector convened to discuss past trends in giving, the charitable sector's current situation, and the possible effects of proposals to modify the charitable deduction.

Using 1999-2008 data from the Federal Justice Statistics Program and interviews with federal and tribal officials, this report describes the prevalence, characteristics, and outcomes of juveniles handled at each stage of the federal justice system. Although juvenile cases are rare in the federal system, over the ten year period about half of all juveniles were tribal youth. The report explores the jurisdictional complexities that help explain why tribal youth cases enter the federal system. Tribal and non-tribal juvenile cases differed in significant ways: most tribal youth cases involved violent offenses, while most non-tribal cases involved public order and drug offenses; and tribal youth were more likely to be adjudicated delinquent, while non-tribal youth were more likely to be prosecuted as adults.

In this testimony before members of the D.C. City Council, Peter Tatian, senior researcher in the Urban Institute's Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center and director of NeighborhoodInfo DC, presents recent data showing that, although foreclosure activity has slowed in recent months, many D.C. homeowners are still having difficulty paying their mortgages, which puts them at risk of foreclosure down the road. These data suggest that the city should continue to take steps to protect homeowners, renters, and neighborhoods from the negative impacts of foreclosures.

About one in three Americans age 65 or older lived in low-income families in 2009, including 8.9 percent in poverty. Poverty rates were much higher among those who did not complete high school, lived alone, or had poor health. This data brief reports how poverty and near-poverty rates among older Americans in 2009 varied by demographics, living arrangements, and health status; shows that poverty and near poverty among seniors declined between 2007 and 2009; and describes income sources for poor and non-poor seniors.

The brief examines employment and establishments for two periods that differed markedly in economic performance: 1998-2000 and 2000-2002. It compares trends in the cities and suburbs of metropolitan areas. It then looks at how the economic performance of ZIP codes varied by resident poverty rates, showing that high-poverty areas had the worst records overall. It next examines differences in economic structure between ZIP codes with concentrated economic activity and residential areas. Finally, the brief compares residential service establishments per capita (e.g., grocery stores, restaurants, doctors' offices, and banks) in the different types of areas, finding that high-poverty ZIP codes had fewer service establishments than low-poverty ones for most, but not all, kinds of services.

This brief examines different price indices that might be used to adjust Social Security benefits for changes in the cost of living. The currently used consumer price index for wage and clerical workers (CPI-W) is probably biased upward. A new experimental "chain" index removes some of the upward bias and therefore rises more slowly. Using it would help solve some of Social Security's long-run financial problems. Another candidate is an experimental index designed to reflect the purchases of the elderly. Largely because it heavily weights health costs, it is likely to rise faster than the CPI-W.

The paper provides an independent evaluation of the SIPP Synthetic Beta File. This file, created by the Bureau of the Census, is intended to provide a public use database with similar statistical properties as the confidential Social Security Administration's earnings and benefit data linked to the SIPP. There is much to praise in the Census work. Many univariate distributions were "spot on." Unweighted regression analyses had some problems and results for them were mixed. In policy simulation modeling there were many instances of differences between the Synthetic and actual data that would have led researchers to wrong conclusions.

Key facts are highlighted from several Urban Institute and Brookings Institution reports on public expenditures on children through 2008. Findings reveal that spending on children increased under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and other stimulus spending, but not proportionately to other federal spending. As ARRA expires, spending on children is projected to decline, assuming no change in current policies. Results also show that states and localities spent more money than the federal government did on children in 2004, except when it came to the youngest children, and that overall public investment (local, state, and federal) increases as children get older.