Research

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

“Racial Differences in the Relationship Between the Receipt of Informal Financial Support and Social Insurance”, Review of Social Economy, 2023, 82(2), 184–212 (with Dania Francis, Christian Weller, and Maryam Salihu). https://doi.org/10.1080/00346764.2023.2241431

Abstract:

In this paper, we examine the relationship between the reliance on informal financial support and social insurance programs such as unemployment insurance to meet financial hardships imposed during the economic downturn associated with COVID-19. We use the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey to compare the likelihood of receiving informal financial support from family and friends for households that did or did not receive social insurance controlling for observable household characteristics. We pay special attention to differences by race/ethnicity and by homeownership – a proxy for wealth. Our results suggest that (1) some types of social insurance receipt are a weak substitute for informal financial support, (2) the substitution between informal financial support and social insurance receipt is stronger among White households than households of color, and (3) wealth is a more consistent buffer against financial hardship than social insurance receipt.

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“Wealth Inequality, Precariousness, Household Debt, and Macroeconomic Instability”, Journal of Economic Issues, 2022, 56(2), 599–606 (with Christian Weller). https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2022.2065864

Abstract:

U.S. wealth inequality has arisen alongside slow economic growth and more economic and financial instability. We consider how these factors are connected in this article. We draw on the existing literature, supplemented with data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts, and the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. We show that the United States experiences a vicious cycle of continued wealth inequality in the context of unequally distributed economic risks that impede savings by those who already have little wealth to begin with. The result are greater indebtedness and more widespread macroeconomic instability. These factors perpetuate wealth inequality and economic instability. The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated these linkages, but we highlight that the underlying trends have existed for decades. Breaking this cycle requires several policy steps to build reduce wealth inequality.

Peer Reviewed Book Chapters

“The Effect of Precarious Work on Wealth Inequality in the United States: Analysis and Policy Implications”, 2025, In Charles Whalen (Ed.), Fashioning Prosperous, Sustainable and Humane Societies Beyond Precarity, Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035340262.00010

Abstract:

This chapter presents an analysis of precarious work and wealth inequality in the United States. The chapter starts with an exploration of the concept of precarious work, the trends in such employment and wealth inequality over the past several decades, and the channels by which precarious work and wealth inequality interact to account for the observed trends. The chapter concludes by identifying the types of public policies needed to foster greater employment and economic security among workers and break the vicious cycle of spreading worker precarity and rising inequality. Among the most important are a higher minimum wage and labor law reform that better enable workers to organize and bargain collectively.

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“Wealth Inequality, Household Debt, and Macroeconomic instability”, 2022, (with Christian Weller) in Charles Whalen, (Ed.) A Modern Guide to Post-Keynesian Institutional Economics. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800885752.00013

Abstract:

This chapter presents a four-part exploration of the connection between rising US wealth inequality, household debt, and macroeconomic growth and instability. First, we summarize the evidence on rising wealth inequality. Second, we consider the increased exposure to economic risk faced by individuals and households – giving special attention to the rise of precarious jobs – and highlight the costs and impediments to increased saving by households. Although the COVID-19 pandemic starkly illustrates widespread household exposure to economic risk, we demonstrate that such exposure has been growing for decades. Third, we examine how the growth of household debt represents a key link between wealth inequality, mounting economic risks, and the macroeconomic problems of slower growth and greater instability. Fourth, we offer a brief discussion and conclusion, including some attention to our investigation’s implications for public policy.

Research Reports

“Exploring Financial Situations and the Cliff Effect for Single-mother Families in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania”, Center for Social Policy Publications, 2021, 87. (with Susan Crandall, Brian Beauregard, and Sokha Eng). https://scholarworks.umb.edu/csp_pubs/87/

Abstract:

This report explores cliff effects in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. First, simulations were conducted to better understand the nature and types of benefit cliffs experienced by single women with children in Allegheny County. Only one simulation –the unlikely scenario where a family receives a full package of benefits– showed families making ends meet across all wage levels simulated. Four different types of financial situations were identified: actual loss of benefits (cliff), fear of benefit cliff, slow intermittent progress, and running in place. Next, to gain a better sense of the scope of the cliff effect in Allegheny County, an estimate of the number of single mother families who are at risk of benefits cliffs is derived. We estimate that 23,537 single mother families who access Pennsylvania Department of Human Services benefits are at risk of experiencing a real or perceived benefit cliff. Further, 11,010 single mother households access housing assistance in Allegheny County, and thus experience the “running in place” financial situation when their earnings increase. Third, a scan of efforts to address benefit cliffs is provided, including an analysis of how solutions map to financial situations of low-income families. Finally, policy and capacity building recommendations are offered to mitigate the cliff effect in Allegheny County.

Conference Presentations

(2024, September 5–6). The Effect of Precarious Work on Wealth Inequality in the United States: An Examination and Policy Implications [Book chapter presentation]. 42nd Conference of the International Working Party on Labour Market Segmentation (IWPLMS). Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark.

(2024, June 5–6). Session B2: Precarious Work [Discussant]. Association for Social Economics (ASE) World Congress. Boston, MA, United States.

(2023, November 30 – December 1). The Impact of Precariousness on Wealth Inequality in the United States [Paper presentation]. Beyond Precarity: Fashioning Prosperous, Humane and Sustainable Societies in the Age of Financialization and Global Warming Conference. University of Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France.

(2022, April 1–2). Racial Differences in the Relationship between the Receipt of Informal Financial Support and Social Insurance [Paper co-presentation with Christian Weller, Dania Francis, Maryam Salihu]. Financialization and the Social Economy Conference of the Review of Social Economy. Boston, MA, United States.

(2022, January 7–9). Wealth Inequality, Precariousness, Household Debt, and Macroeconomic Instability [Paper presentation]. Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) Annual Meeting. Virtual. 

Participated Workshops

(2024, June 3–4). Summer School in Social Economics hosted by Association for Social Economics (ASE). Boston, MA, United States.

(2023, August 14–18). Early Career and Grad Student Workshop hosted by the Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE). Washington, DC, United States.

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