Emily A. Gallagher is a visiting scholar at the Center for Household Financial Stability at the St. Louis Fed. She is also an assistant professor of finance and real estate at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Financial health, homeownership and flood insurance status before a hurricane altered the financial hardship of flooding on families.
The use of bankruptcy to avoid medical bills and the sometimes transient nature of Medicaid play a role in low-income families’ decisions about saving.
After Medicaid eligibility, financially stressed families chose to save more from tax refunds, but low-income families that weren’t as financially stressed didn’t make major changes to saving choices.
Should more families be encouraged to hold a liquidity buffer even if it means incurring more debt in the short term?
