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2019-07-15
Center for Economic and Policy Research;
This report examines Ecuador's March 2019 agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and finds that Ecuador is likely to have lower GDP per capita, higher unemployment, and increased macroeconomic instability under the program. Even the program itself, the authors note, projects Ecuador to have a recession this year and increased unemployment for each of the first three years of the program. But these projections are optimistic, the report concludes.
2019-07-12
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights;
In Illinois, nearly 5 million adults, 50% of the population, are estimated to have an arrest or conviction record. Housing is foundational for employment success, family stability, and overall well-being. Unfortunately, criminal history checks are a typical part of the housing application processes, and many people with records are declined housing opportunities they would otherwise be a good fit for, but for the criminal record.
Our goal for Win-Win was to develop user-friendly guidance about the use of criminal records in screening and housing applicants, and to provide recommendations that housing providers can adopt and adapt, in whole or in part, to increase housing opportunities for people with criminal records.
2019-03-13
Social IMPACT Research Center;
Poverty does not treat everyone equally. Women, children, gender minorities, and people of color are often the hardest hit. And while women in poverty experience the same issues that all people in poverty experience—income inequality, unemployment, poor health, violence, trauma, and more—the odds are often uniquely stacked against them in gendered ways.
There are 6.5 million women. and an estimated 50,000 trans people living in Illinois. They are a driving force in our economy and care for our children, sick, and elderly, and yet continue to face discrimination and inequitable opportunities. This year's annual report on poverty in Illinois shows how gender, gender identity, and gender norms shape experiences of poverty for women and gender minorities—and how women who have other marginalized identities experience even more inequity. If we want to dramatically reduce poverty, improving the well-being of women— particularly women of color—would deliver the biggest return.
2019-03-12
MDRC;
The study, funded by Robin Hood, is the most rigorous, independent, third-party evaluation of group microfinance in the United States, assessing Grameen America's program, a microfinance model that provides small loans to low-income women entrepreneurs in the United States seeking to launch or expand small businesses.
2019-02-01
Social IMPACT Research Center;
Chicago is in so many ways a thriving global city. But far too many of us face the daily reality of financialinsecurity caused by jobs that don't pay enough to live on, that have unstable hours, and that don't providebenefits that many in the workforce a generation ago enjoyed. Both as a city and as a people, economicresilience in the face of change is critical to create a thriving metropolis, yet strong forces are pushing us awayfrom this, not towards it: deep racial and gender inequity; steadily widening income inequality; the erosion ofthe middle class; the rise in contingent work and looming automation of jobs. The result? Work is unreliableand income is precarious for those living in deep poverty and all the way up into the middle class.In response to these realities, last summer the Chicago City Council passed a resolution to create the ChicagoResilient Families Initiative Task Force to assess and determine the scope of a guaranteed income pilot aswell as solutions to modernize the Earned Income Tax Credit. Since then, at the behest of Mayor Emanuel,the task force has met, learned, dug deep and explored different paths to economic security and resiliencyfor Chicagoans. We sought advice from community residents and national experts who have been engageddeeply in these questions for years
2019-01-14
Family Foundations;
When I was City Council President, I was invited by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund to an Asset Building Conference, where I joined a team of colleagues from Jacksonville. We were challenged to set a bold goal around poverty in our community. We decided that our goal had to be big – we chose 1,000 people – and our goal had to have a time limit – we chose 1,000 days and that is how 1,000 in 1,000 was born.
I assumed that this initiative would be like most, where a group comes up with some great ideas, but then we get back home our good intentions wither. But Team Jacksonville was different. We completed research on the latest learnings on poverty, including literature reviews and national site visits. We ran pilots, working with 100 families over 3 years, to determine what specific strategies were the most powerful for building assets.
We learned from the families directly. They told us that their top goal was to provide a better life for their children than their own. They wanted a job that paid a living wage and were willing to work for it, but needed child care and reliable transportation to get to job training. They emphasized the need for life management skills, including goal setting, budgeting, parenting andinterpersonal skills. Families were frank that many of them had a past criminal arrest or conviction, but for relatively minor offenses that were still classified as a felony, such as bouncing a check or driving with a suspended license.
Poverty is everyone's problem. I am justifiably proud of our community for examining poverty through the magnifying glass of our collective vision.
2019-01-02
Women and Girls Collective Action Network;
CURL formed a partnership with Women and Girls' Collective Action Network and Chicago Girls' Coalition to conduct a secondary data analysis to determine how young women and girls are faring in Illinois. This project aims to provide statistical evidence that will inform on the issues, needs, and solutions required to ensure the healthy development of all young women and girls in Illinois.
2018-12-18
Center for Economic and Policy Research;
Since July of 2018, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has disbursed more than $20 billion of a $56.3 billion loan package to Argentina. The Argentine government is now the largest holder of the IMF's General Resources Account (GRA) funds. This paper looks at how the policies that the Fund and the Argentine government have agreed upon in their June Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) are expected to lead to an economic recovery; and whether they are likely to succeed.
2018-11-13
Carsey School of Public Policy at The University of New Hampshire;
In this fact sheet, authors Andrew Schaefer, Jessica Carson, Marybeth Mattingly, and Andrew Wink examine the interaction between the minimum wage and the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to determine whether a minimum wage increase would produce gains in the sum of earnings plus EITC dollars for low-income workers. They report that for workers earning the minimum wage, an increase would result in higher income; none would experience a lower net income due to changes in the federal EITC credit (though this may be offset by loss of other safety net program benefits). For some family types, increased income would come primarily from a higher minimum wage; for others, gains would also come from the higher-value federal EITC triggered by their higher earnings.
2018-10-09
Carsey School of Public Policy at The University of New Hampshire;
Recent proposals in the House and Senate (for example, the Grow American Incomes Now Act) focus on amplifying the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)—a refundable tax credit for low-income workers—to compensate for growing wage inequity. We find that the share of EITC filers who are families with children is especially high in the poorest counties (those counties outlined in black on Map 1), including many places throughout the South. Many of these counties are nonmetropolitan counties (see Map 2), suggesting that the EITC can provide safety net support in places where other social services may be less available. While an EITC expansion could be costly, existing research shows that its effects on poverty reduction, employment, and both children's health and achievement are considerable, and therefore, worth considering in the scheme of ongoing broad tax revisions.
2018-09-17
Oxfam;
Oxfam estimates that just one of the richest men in Ghana earns from his wealth more in a month than one of the poorest women could earn in 1,000 years. Inequality is slowing down poverty reduction, hampering economic growth and threatening social cohesion. Nearly 300,000 more men, women and children in Ghana could have been lifted out of poverty between 2006 and 2013 had inequality not increased during this period. Inequality is not inevitable and can be addressed. In 2017, servicing public debt cost Ghana more than the annual amount the government would need to pay for free quality healthcare for all Ghanaians and to deliver on its globally agreed health goals by 2030.
In this report, Oxfam calls on the government of Ghana to use public spending to reduce inequality, and put women's economic empowerment at the heart of policy making.
