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Project
Behavioral Finance (BeFi) Forum Promotes Research on Consumer Behavior
The RAND Behavioral Finance (BeFi) Forum is a collective of academic, financial, and government leaders who meet regularly in person and via web seminars to foster cutting-edge behavioral research for practical application. BeFi's mission is to help consumers make better financial decisions.
Oct 24, 2017
Report
Americans' Spending Declines Consistently After Age 65
Americans' personal spending drops consistently after age 65, both among the affluent and those with lower levels of financial resources. The findings contradict traditional wisdom that spending will be constant or even increase during older age, and suggests that individuals and couples could spend more early in retirement.
Dec 7, 2022

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Periodical
RAND Review: May-June 2023
The cover story commemorates RAND's 75th anniversary. One feature article explores what it would take to eliminate racial wealth disparities in the United States; another highlights a promising mental health first aid initiative in New York City.
May 12, 2023
Essay
What Would It Take to Close America's Black-White Wealth Gap?
White Americans hold ten times more total wealth than Black Americans, a disparity that has worsened in recent decades. RAND researchers modeled wealth across millions of households and tested several funding scenarios to see which could most effectively close the gap.
May 9, 2023
News Release
Americans' Spending Declines Consistently After Age 65; Finding Applies Broadly Across All Wealth Groups
Americans' personal spending drops consistently after age 65, both among the affluent and those with lower levels of financial resources. The findings contradict traditional wisdom that spending will be constant or even increase during older age, and suggests that individuals and couples could spend more early in retirement.
Dec 7, 2022
Commentary
To Help African Americans Gain Generational Wealth, Look to the Housing Market
African American families have significantly less wealth than White families, even after reaching the middle class. Home ownership is, for the vast majority of Americans, the primary vehicle for accruing wealth, and passing it down through generations. This is a crucial time for policymakers to consider policies that focus on improving home ownership rates for African Americans.
Dec 7, 2022
Report
Accounting for Black-White Wealth Differences
Wealth accumulation is not solely determined by a person's choices and ability. Many factors affect individual wealth, including parental income, credit, and systemic discrimination. These factors have a cumulative effect and can lead to persistent disparities over generations.
Dec 7, 2022
Report
Examining the Loss of Wealth and Downward Mobility of African Americans
Black children who grow up in middle-class households are less likely than white children who grow up in middle-class households to replicate their parents' socioeconomic status. What key factors contribute to this disparity?
Dec 7, 2022
Report
Overcoming Compound Racial Inequity
Differences in Black and white Americans' economic status show how the harms of the past—slavery, segregation, discrimination—live on in the present. Could wealth allocations help to close the racial wealth gap?
Dec 7, 2022
Project
Investigating the U.S. Racial Wealth Gap
The gap in wealth between Black and white Americans is a product of historical realities that continue to shape economic outcomes. Policy interventions to address current wealth disparities must understand the long-standing inequities that contributed to them.
Dec 6, 2022
Journal Article
Saving Regret and Procrastination
Saving regret, or the wish in hindsight to have saved more earlier in life, is widespread in older populations. Little of the variation is explained by procrastination and psychological factors. Unemployment, health, and divorce are larger factors.
Nov 23, 2022
Journal Article
Credit Building or Credit Crumbling? A Credit Builder Loan's Effects on Consumer Behavior and Market Efficiency in the United States
We use a randomized encouragement design and predictive modeling to examine impacts of a credit-builder loan (CBL) on borrowers, providers, and credit market information.
Sep 29, 2022
Commentary
Renters' Last Chance for Pandemic Aid Before Evictions Resume
The pandemic has battered Los Angeles renters, and a new wave of pain is coming with the moratorium on evictions ending September 30. But this housing crisis doesn't have to turn into a new homelessness crisis. Californians with incomes below 80 percent of their area's median are eligible to receive funds from the COVID-19 Rent Relief program.
Sep 24, 2021
Multimedia
Exploring Workplace Financial Wellbeing Interventions
Workplace financial wellbeing interventions could offer a key means for addressing rising financial concerns and mental health issues in the workplace. In this video, Christian van Stolk and Jennifer Bousfield describe their findings from an extensive analysis of British and Asian workplace survey data.
Mar 9, 2021
Infographic
Workplace financial wellbeing interventions and the mental health of young workers
In this study we explore the likely and proven impact of workplace financial wellbeing interventions on the mental health of young workers, through analysis of Britain and Asia's Healthiest Workplace survey data and a literature review.
Mar 8, 2021
Report
Workplace financial wellbeing interventions for young workers: A review of the evidence and analysis of Britain's Healthiest Workplace (BHW) and Asia's Healthiest Workplace (AHW) surveys
In this study we explore the likely and proven impact of workplace financial wellbeing interventions on the mental health of young workers, through analysis of Britain and Asia's Healthiest Workplace survey data and a literature review.
Mar 8, 2021
Journal Article
Financial Literacy and Financial Decision-Making at Older Ages
This paper examines how financial literacy is associated with three types of financial decisions pertinent to older individuals: adherence to timely credit card repayment, stock market participation, and risk diversification of household assets.
Feb 9, 2021
Report
RAND Behavioral Finance Forum: Financial Security Over the Lifespan
Video compilation of the 2020 Behavioral Finance Forum (BeFi). Leaders from academia, government, regulatory agencies, and industry were invited to share the latest research and exchange ideas on the theme of financial security over the lifespan.
Feb 2, 2021
Blog
Americans' Financial Struggles, COVID-19 Vaccinations, Virtual Schools: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on Americans' ongoing financial struggles, how we can learn from the first phase of COVID-19 vaccinations, why virtual schools may be here to stay, and more.
Dec 18, 2020
News Release
Financial Woes Grow Worse Over Course of Coronavirus Pandemic; More Families Report Trouble Paying Bills
The economic challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic have grown worse since the spring for many American families, with an increasing number reporting that they have trouble paying bills.
Dec 17, 2020
Report
Americans' Financial Difficulties Continue
As the pandemic continues, many U.S. households are struggling to pay their bills. No income group has been spared financial difficulties, but the most-vulnerable households have been hit the hardest. There are severe challenges among lower-income workers and among Black and Hispanic households.
Dec 17, 2020

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Michael D. Hurd

Director, RAND Center for the Study of Aging

Michael Hurd is a senior principal researcher at the RAND Corporation, where he directs the RAND Center for the Study of Aging. His research interests cover a wide range of topics in the economics of aging including: the structure of private pensions and Social Security and their effects on…
Susann Rohwedder

Associate Director, RAND Center for the Study of Aging

Susann Rohwedder (she/her) is a senior economist at RAND, associate director of the RAND Center for the Study of Aging, and professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research focuses on the economics of aging in the areas of household consumption and saving behavior, retirement,…

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