Publication Date

7-1-2004

Summary

Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) provide low-income people with matches for savings used for home purchase, post-secondary education, or microenterprise. Match rates for the 2,350 IDA participants in the American Dream Demonstration (ADD) were typically 1:1 or 2:1 but ranged as high as 7:1. This paper looks at how these match rates were related with the likelihood of saving something and with the level of savings. The model controls for a number of confounding factors often ignored in similar studies of match rates in 401(k) plans. For IDAs in ADD, higher match rates were generally associated with a greater likelihood of saving something and—for participants who saved something—a lower level of IDA savings.

Document Type

Working Paper

Category

Financial Inclusion

Subarea

Asset Building

Original Citation

Schreiner, M. (2004). Match rates, Individual Development Accounts, and saving by the poor (CSD Working Paper No. 04-02). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.

Project

American Dream Policy Demonstration (ADD)

Keywords

IDA, individual development account, savings, match rates, low income, ADD, American Dream Demonstration

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