Enabling Families to Weather Emergencies and Develop (Series/New Safety Net)Signe-Mary McKernan,
Caroline RatcliffeLow-wage jobs can be unstable, leaving families struggling to cope with employment gaps and financial emergencies that can strike without warning. About four in five low-income families are "asset poor," lacking enough liquid savings to live for three months at the federal poverty level without earnings. In this essay, McKernan and Ratcliffe suggest a cluster of policies that would improve financial markets and savings opportunities for low-income families across the life cycle.
| Posted: July 16, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Self-Employment and Economic Mobility (Research Report)Signe-Mary McKernan,
Harold SalzmanSelf-employment has held out the promise of economic mobility to generations of Americans. However, it is unclear whether the success stories of self-made men and women represent common experiences or exceptional cases. A more nuanced understanding of the contemporary experiences, outcomes, and impact of self-employment on mobility is necessary to properly evaluate the contribution self-employment makes to economic mobility in the U.S. population. This review describes the mechanisms by which self-employment may have mobility outcomes different from standard employment, paying particular attention to the substantial differences in self-employment effects across income, race, and gender subgroups. (Review 9 of 11.)
| Posted: April 03, 2008 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Capital Access for Women (Research Report)Harold Salzman,
Signe-Mary McKernan,
Nancy M. Pindus,
Rosa Maria CastanedaCapital access programs and funds for women starting and expanding their businesses have grown dramatically over the past decade. These programs cover the spectrum from microenterprise to venture capital funds and serve highly diverse populations. Thirteen "best practice" programs and three "promising practices" (new programs that appear innovative but do not yet have a track record) are profiled in this report and are the basis for our analysis of key success factors, barriers, and constraints faced by women entrepreneurs, and our policy recommendations. We profile and analyze the programs to share best practices and lessons learned so that successful programs can be replicated. Our analysis of these best practice programs identifies six areas that can improve the strength of all capital access programs and expand their reach.
| Posted: February 26, 2007 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Small Business and Microenterprise as an Opportunity- and Asset-Building Strategy (Policy Briefs/Opportunity and Ownership Project)Signe-Mary McKernan,
Henry ChenSmall business and microenterprise are important because of their role in the economy, their role in the American dream, and their economic development and self-sufficiency objectives. They are attractive because they create more economic development and self-sufficiency than income redistribution or meeting a minimum consumption level do. However, small business and microenterprise subsidies are often criticized because they are directed toward a narrow, entrepreneurial segment of the population that is not necessarily disadvantaged. This brief examines small business and microenterprise programs and subsidies, and offers recommendations to improve the evaluation and administration of these programs.
| Posted: June 23, 2005 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Use of the Formal and Informal Financial Sectors: Does Gender Matter? (Research Report)Signe-Mary McKernan,
Mark M. Pitt,
David MoskowitzAccess to transfers and credit, whether cash or in-kind, is a major source of poverty alleviation and income generation in many developing countries around the world. Women may especially benefit from transfers and credit in countries such as Bangladesh where they often have few work alternatives. In this paper, the authors descriptively examine the formal and informal financial sectors of rural Bangladesh, placing special emphasis on differences between men and women. Their analysis uses unique data on the credit and transfer behaviors of 1,800 households in rural Bangladesh.
| Posted: January 15, 2005 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
