Insufficient Funds: Savings, Assets, Credit and Banking Among Low-Income Households
More low-income families now need assistance on how to find financial vehicles that will allow them to more effectively manage debt, savings and their financial lives. A recently released book edited by Rebecca M. Blank and Michael S. Barr, Insufficient Funds: Savings, Assets, Credit, and Banking among Low-Income Households (Russell Sage Press, 2009) discusses the problems and suggests how to bring more low-income families into the formal financial sector by offering them better financial service products. The book also recommends improved opportunities for saving, and regulation of credit and financial markets in ways that help lower-income families avoid credit and investment options that create long-term financial problems.
On May 4, the Brookings Institution hosted a discussion on how the book’s recommendations might be realized in this current economic environment. This event was jointly sponsored by the Center on Children and Families at Brookings; the National Poverty Center at the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan; Brookings’s Retirement Security Project; and the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.
![]() |
![]() |
|
Ron Haskins giving opening remarks. | Rebecca Blank speaking at event. |
Agenda
Welcome
Ron Haskins
Senior Fellow Emeritus - Economic Studies
Overview
Panelists
Moderator: <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/experts/sawhilli.aspx">Isabel Sawhill</a>
Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Center on Children and Families
William G. Gale
The Arjay and Frances Fearing Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy
Senior Fellow - Economic Studies
Director - Retirement Security Project
Co-Director - Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
More Information
To subscribe or manage your subscriptions to our top event topic lists, please visit our event topics page.