Center for Social Development

The Evaluation of the St. Louis Guaranteed Basic Income Program is a project designed to evaluate the effects of a pilot that provided monthly cash assistance to over 500 St. Louis households over 18 months. The research revealed the program’s impacts in recipients’ lives and recipient perspectives on their experiences.

In a historic move to prepare future generations for emerging economic realities, Kazakhstan launched a national Child Development Account (CDA) policy informed by research from the Center for Social Development (CSD).

In the summer of 2025, the United States enacted a federal policy to build assets for American children as they grow. Similar to IRAs, Trump Accounts are tax-advantaged investment vehicles for accumulating assets. The policy could serve as a federal structure for wealth building, enabling every child to accumulate resources for education and other life goals. However, evidence indicates that changes will be required for the Trump Account policy to realize its full potential.

The Workforce Economic Inclusion and Mobility (WEIM) project is designed to comprehensively examine the financial vulnerability of low-wage workers in the U.S. The research will contribute to identifying public and private sector innovations that improve financial security and economic mobility for low-wage workers in the U.S.

The Financial Capability & Asset Building in Africa (FCAB Africa) initiative aims to increase financial capability and asset holding among socially and financially marginalized populations in Africa. By improving financial stability and security in these populations, the initiative seeks to strengthen their social and economic well-being.

The SEED OK experiment, which began in 2007, is a large-scale policy test of universal, automatic, and progressive Child Development Accounts. The CDA uses the Oklahoma 529 College Savings Plan platform.