Universal Accounts at Birth: Building Knowledge to Inform Policy

Publication Date

11-18-2015

Summary

In 2007, the SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) experiment began testing a universal and progressive Child Development Account (CDA) policy. Designed for all households, including those that lack the resources to participate in and benefit from other asset-building policies, the CDA in SEED OK is automatically opened and seeded with an initial deposit, and the progressive savings incentive is greater for low- and moderate-income families than for high-income ones. Assets in the account are designated for postsecondary education. This article discusses SEED OK’s rigorous research design and early findings. As intended, the CDA in SEED OK delivers college accounts and assets to all children, regardless of socioeconomic status. Because disadvantaged children are otherwise less likely to have college accounts and assets, the CDA has greater positive impacts on disadvantaged children than advantaged children. The CDA also has positive effects on parents’ expectations for their children’s educational attainment and on children’s social-emotional development. It reduces symptoms of depression in mothers. Again, the impacts of the CDA are often greater for disadvantaged families. The authors conclude by considering the implications of these findings.

Document Type

Article

Category

Financial Inclusion

Subarea

Asset Building

Original Citation

Sherraden, M., Clancy, M., Nam, Y., Huang, J., Kim, Y., Beverly, S. G., … Purnell, J. Q. (2015). Universal accounts at birth: Building knowledge to inform policy. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 6(4), 541–564. doi:10.1086/684139

Project

SEED for Oklahoma Kids

Keywords

SEED OK, academic expectation, asset building, assets, asset effects, attitudes, CDA, child development account, child savings, children, college expectations, college savings, college savings plan, educational expectations, experiment, inclusion, inclusive policy, institutional theory, institutional features, intervention, matched saving, policy, randomized controlled trial, saving, savings, United States, well-being

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