Mark Schreiner

Cost-Effectiveness in Individual Development Accounts.

Because resources are limited, the benefits and costs of social-work interventions—like all interventions—must be compared with the benefits and costs of alternatives. Evidence-based practice should ask, What works? How well does it work? And what does it cost? This article analyzes the provision of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) with a new cost-effectiveness framework meant to help make assumptions and judgments explicit. In the specific IDA program examined, 1 month of services for 1 participant costs about

Universal Accounts at Birth: Building Knowledge to Inform Policy

64. The mere existence of a cost figure— regardless of whether it is seen as high or low—has sparked many questions in the IDA community: How can costs be reduced without sacrificing quality? Which features of IDAs are essential? Are IDAs worth it? This sort of healthy questioning is precisely the purpose of cost-effectiveness analysis in social-work practice.

Formal RoSCAs in Argentina

Objective: This article summarizes the design, implementation, and early findings of a statewide randomized experiment of Child Development Accounts (CDAs). The SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment (SEED OK) is testing a concept for a universal, progressive asset-building policy with potential for national application. CDAs can start as early as birth, providing structured opportunities (e.g., financial access, information, incentives) to encourage asset accumulation for postsecondary education and other developmental purposes. Theory and evidence suggest that CDAs can improve educational outcomes, especially among disadvantaged youth. Method: Participating in a rigorous randomized controlled design, primary caregivers of children born in Oklahoma in 2007 completed a baseline telephone survey before random assignment to the treatment group (n = 1,358) or control group (n = 1,346); these caregivers completed a follow-up survey 4 years later. For children in the treatment group, the SEED OK experiment automatically opened an Oklahoma 529 College Savings Plan (OK 529) account with a

Saving in ADD: Measures from MIS IDA

1,000 initial deposit. In addition, low- and moderate-income families in the treatment group were eligible for a savings match for deposits to their own OK 529 accounts. Results: Findings indicate that CDAs can be implemented universally in a full population to increase the accumulation of college assets. The CDA in SEED OK greatly reduces disparities in OK 529 asset accumulation associated with socioeconomic characteristics. The CDA also has positive effects on parental educational expectations for children, maternal depressive symptoms, and children’s social-emotional development. Conclusions: In contrast to college savings programs that require parents to open an account, SEED OK’s universal, automatic, and progressive CDA model gives all children the opportunity to benefit from college-account and asset ownership.

Aspects of outreach: a framework for discussion of the social benefits of microfinance

This paper describes the relative advantages and disadvantages of formal Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (RoSCAs), in contrast with informal RoSCAs, as seen in Argentina. NGOs, it is argued, are not in a good position to use the formal RoSCA structure to developmental advantage, since they could not manage the risk assessment or legal framework necessary with formal RoSCAs, which do not rely on social censure and capital for their operation. This article is hosted by our co-publisher Taylor & Francis.

Saving, IDA Programs, and Effects of IDAs: A Survey of Participants

the poor save? Data collected with the Management Information System for Individual Development Accounts (MIS IDA) in the American Dream Demonstration (ADD) show that they can. About half of participants had net IDA savings of more than

Informal finance and the design of microfinance

100, and monthly savings averaged

Credit Scoring for Microfinance: Can It Work?

16.60. While participant characteristics were linked with IDA savings, no single characteristic (such as receipt of welfare or very low income) precluded saving. More relevant for policy is that several aspects of IDA design—including the match rate, match cap, time limits, use of automatic transfer, financial education, and restrictions on unmatched withdrawals—were strongly linked with saving. Overall, it seems that institutions for saving, when offered to the poor, work much like they do for the non-poor.