In Assets and the Poor, Michael Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, writes that asset accumulation is structured and subsidized for many non-poor households, primarily via retirement accounts and home ownership.
Population aging is a major concern across the globe, and nowhere is the challenge more daunting than in China. Whereas the United States currently has an estimated 36 million seniors age 65 and older, China already has 208 million seniors (defined in that country as age 60 or older).
Today marks the ten year anniversary of the United Nations International Year of the Volunteer and the release of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program’s very first State of the World’s Volunteerism Report.
The university-wide Livable Lives Initiative investigates what social conditions and policy supports can make life with a low or moderate income stable, secure, satisfying, and successful.
Our Integrative Case Studies, conducted by research partners in the four YouthSave countries in collaboration with the Center for Social Development, aim to capture the contextual factors that will affect YouthSave outcomes and operations.
State-sponsored college savings plans, often called 529 plans, offer tax incentives to facilitate saving for postsecondary education. Low- and moderate-income families are less likely to have college savings than higher-income families.
Available evidence suggests that youth savings has the potential to improve the well-being of low-income and vulnerable youth, but globally, the number of youth savings programs is relatively small.
Post-9/11 disabled veterans furthered their education, improved employment prospects and continued to serve their community through participating in The Mission Continues’ Fellowship Program, finds a new study by the Center for Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
As the global population ages, the concept of “productive aging” offers a new perspective on meeting the challenges of an aging society. In contrast to conventional views of aging, “productive aging” views older adults as participants in and contributors to social development, rather than passive recipients of services.
In August, over 300 gerontology scholars from mainland China, the US, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore as well as governments officials and practitioners from the China National Committee on Aging and the Ministry of Civil Affairs will come together at Peking University to discuss strategies to address population aging.
Worldwide, people aged 60 and above will comprise 13.6 percent of the population by 2020, and 22.1 percent of the population by 2050. China is the most rapidly aging country with older adults making up 13 percent of their population.
International service in higher education takes many different forms, from internships and alternative spring breaks to study-abroad programs and credit-bearing international service-learning programs.
Evidence supporting the link between savings and college success is growing. Three studies out of the Center for Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis offer a connection between assets and college enrollment and completion.
Christina D. Romer, PhD, former chair of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, will deliver a keynote address to open a panel discussion on “The Continuing Unemployment Crisis: Causes, Cures, and Questions for Further Study” at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall.
William Elliott, III, Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh and a Faculty Associate at the Center for Social Development at Washington University’s Brown School, will present his research on children’s savings and educational outcomes at 1:00 pm, April 8, 2011, in Brown Lounge.
What does it take for a family in the US to not merely get by, but to have long-term economic security and ongoing opportunities? This was the question that inspired the creation of the Basic Economic Security Tables Index and accompanying Report.
Earnings in 529s grow free from federal income tax when used to pay for qualified educational costs. Many states, like Oregon, offer a tax deduction for families saving in the state 529 plan. Yet tax incentives provide more benefit to people with higher incomes.
The Center for Social Development and the Gephardt Institute for Public Service at Washington University in St. Louis and DukeEngage of Duke University will host a symposium on international service and higher education from March 30-April 1 at the Knight Center at Washington University.
David Githinji, an MSW student at the Brown School and a Research Assistant at the School’s Center for Social Development, has been awarded a $5,000 Social Change Grant by the Richard A. Gephardt Institute for Public Service at Washington University in St. Louis.
The first public event of Washington University’s Livable Lives Initiative will highlight policy responses to employment and unemployment. Christina Romer, Former Chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, will be the keynote speaker.
Striving to Save: Creating Policies for Financial Security of Low-Income Families was published in February, 2010 to acclaim from economist Stuart Rutherford, Assistant Secretary at the US Department of Treasury Michael Barr, and Director of Brandeis’s Institute on Assets Thomas Shapiro.
The Center for Social Development congratulates Michal Grinstein-Weiss on her receipt of the Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work and Research.